Newborn chatter

[lovelyshoes]

Susie that sounds hectic, but at the same time so organized.
I’m dreading going back to work and the idea of pumping at work is scaring me. The amount of bottles to bring, etc.

Yay for sleeping through the night! I can’t wait for that!

[hamster]

Grandma is back today!!

[scm1011]

Susie, we (well me) decided early on that all the pump parts and bottle washing was DH’s job. I’m doing all the work feeding/pumping so really only fair. Maybe discuss that with your DH?

[pooh8402]

E2 is so snotty lately. I'm sure he has a little cold or something. The problem is that he is swallowing the mucus, which leads him to spit up even more than usual. Ugh. I can only suction his nose so much.

[noodleoo]

Susie , I sympathize! Going from 1 mostly independent kid back to a baby and now having 2 kids has been way harder than I expected. I have a few tips now that DD2 is older that might help. I started showering at night after the kids go to bed to make mornings easier. I actually do as much as I can the night before (prep all the bottles, pack bags, pack lunches, etc). Well, I should say *we* because H helps with a lot of that. Ditto to scm1011, I made washing all the pump parts and bottles H's job.  I spend so much time pumping that I felt it was only fair.  Lately we've been putting DD2 to bed in a onesie and sleep sack, and then in the morning we just thrown on some shorts or pants and she's dressed for school (no picking outfits or changing PJs in the morning).  DD1 is also a tired, hungry, hyper mess when she gets home from daycare so she gets plopped in front of the TV after school with a snack to keep her happy and quiet while we get dinner ready and take care of DD2.  I've started planning super easy meals that are quick to prep (frozen short cuts help a lot) so that dinner can be done quickly.  It's been hard and we have so much less downtime than we used to.  H and I tag team it, so neither of us sit until after the kids are in bed, stuff is packed for the next day and the kitchen is (relatively) clean.  It does suck but it has definitely gotten less stressful as we've adjusted.  The thing that sucks is we go to bed way later than we should because we both need some downtime before bed and there is so little time.  We're getting much less sleep than we should.  Hugs, it's hard!

[katespade]

Jul 31, 2019 9:43:58 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Susie , we (well me) decided early on that all the pump parts and bottle washing was DH’s job. I’m doing all the work feeding/pumping so really only fair. Maybe discuss that with your DH?

Yep. This is what we do, too. H cleans pump parts and bottles every night while DD has her last nursing session before bed. We had a similar system with diapers when we were both on leave after she was born, too. I told him that since I was handling all of the input, he got to handle all of the output. lol.

[Susie]

Yeah, when DD was a baby H did all the bottle and pump washing -- we def need to reinstitute that! I was doing it (along with all the rest of the dishes and kitchen cleanup) while I was home on leave, since I was home and had the time as long as DS napped. Now that we're both working full time though, that needs to be on the list of things we're expressly changing!

[noodleoo]

Jul 31, 2019 10:58:34 GMT -5 katespade said:

Jul 31, 2019 9:43:58 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Susie , we (well me) decided early on that all the pump parts and bottle washing was DH’s job. I’m doing all the work feeding/pumping so really only fair. Maybe discuss that with your DH?

Yep. This is what we do, too. H cleans pump parts and bottles every night while DD has her last nursing session before bed. We had a similar system with diapers when we were both on leave after she was born, too. I told him that since I was handling all of the input, he got to handle all of the output. lol.

Haha, H and I have the same deal!  It was great, it actually stuck with DD1 even after I stopped breastfeeding.  I love that H never complained about having to change poop diapers.  Even now, if DD2 poops, I just hand her to H and he changes her, no questions asked.  Best deal I ever made! 

[hamster]

The last 3 or 4 times D has eaten off the left it hurts. Maybe latch pain, but we haven't had issues since he was first born. Other ideas? I dont see anything obviously amiss on my nipple. I did not have issues while pumping this morning.

[pooh8402]

Jul 31, 2019 13:47:38 GMT -5 hamster said:

The last 3 or 4 times D has eaten off the left it hurts. Maybe latch pain, but we haven't had issues since he was first born. Other ideas? I dont see anything obviously amiss on my nipple. I did not have issues while pumping this morning.

Could be the beginning of a clog or bleb?

[Susie]

At our well visit last week (2 mo.), our pedi asked me about our bedtime routine, and said now is the time to start working on setting DS down "sleepy but awake" so he can learn to soothe himself to sleep.  I'm totally on board in theory, but in practice -- can someone remind me how that works when baby is too young to CIO?  I mean, I set him down swaddled and sleepy, he'll cry... and then?  How do you make the magic happen?

With DD we soothed her to sleep until she was 7m, when we resorted to CIO.  We knew she could soothe to sleep because she was STTN, and so she must be able to get herself back to sleep -- she just wouldn't on the front end.  I would really like to get there sooner with DS.

At daycare he falls asleep in a crib, but they rock the cribs on wheels.  So even though he isn't held, it doesn't teach him to fall asleep without motion.

[pooh8402]

Jul 31, 2019 15:23:18 GMT -5 Susie said:

At our well visit last week (2 mo.), our pedi asked me about our bedtime routine, and said now is the time to start working on setting DS down "sleepy but awake" so he can learn to soothe himself to sleep.  I'm totally on board in theory, but in practice -- can someone remind me how that works when baby is too young to CIO?  I mean, I set him down swaddled and sleepy, he'll cry... and then?  How do you make the magic happen?

With DD we soothed her to sleep until she was 7m, when we resorted to CIO.  We knew she could soothe to sleep because she was STTN, and so she must be able to get herself back to sleep -- she just wouldn't on the front end.  I would really like to get there sooner with DS.

At daycare he falls asleep in a crib, but they rock the cribs on wheels.  So even though he isn't held, it doesn't teach him to fall asleep without motion.

I mean, I tried to put E2 down drowsy but awake, and sometimes it worked, but many times it didn't. At 2 months, he was definitely too young to CIO. So when drowsy but awake didn't work, I soothed him to sleep however I needed to.

Only in the past week have we started doing Ferber. E2 is now 4.5 months. Just now, he cried for 20 minutes and just fell asleep for nap. I went in to soothe him once.

The first night we started sleep training last week, E2 wailed for 30 minutes (and I was timing my checks per Ferber) but he put himself to sleep. The next night, 20 minutes, the next time, 10. Already a HUGE improvement over E1.

So, all that to say... if drowsy but awake works, then cool. If it doesnt, and you have to soothe your DS to sleep, then do it, by any means necessary.

[hamster]

Jul 31, 2019 14:53:25 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

Jul 31, 2019 13:47:38 GMT -5 hamster said:

The last 3 or 4 times D has eaten off the left it hurts. Maybe latch pain, but we haven't had issues since he was first born. Other ideas? I dont see anything obviously amiss on my nipple. I did not have issues while pumping this morning.

Could be the beginning of a clog or bleb?

There may be a small bump I see. Just keep feeding?

[lovelyshoes]

Jul 31, 2019 16:03:23 GMT -5 hamster said:

Jul 31, 2019 14:53:25 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

Could be the beginning of a clog or bleb?

There may be a small bump I see. Just keep feeding?

Keep feeding, massage a ton, hot shower and dangle pump. My 2 cents.

[pooh8402]

Jul 31, 2019 16:18:33 GMT -5 lovelyshoes said:

Jul 31, 2019 16:03:23 GMT -5 hamster said:

There may be a small bump I see. Just keep feeding?

Keep feeding, massage a ton, hot shower and dangle pump. My 2 cents.

In addition, maybe add some Epsom salt water soaks.

[hamster]

Blah. How annoying.

[poppyseed]

I have the worst cold and am mouth breathing all over my baby. Ugh, I hate this. Last night H had a business dinner so I was solo on top of feeling horrible and I zoned out so bad I completely forgot about my pumped milk for bottles until like 4.5 hours after I pulled the bags from the freezer and had to dump 20 ounces of milk 😭

[hamster]

Yeah, definitely some kind of bleb. Swell. Hopefully I can get it resolved quickly

[namasteak]

Jul 31, 2019 18:37:02 GMT -5 hamster said:

Yeah, definitely some kind of bleb. Swell. Hopefully I can get it resolved quickly

Do you have a hand pump? With my first 2 if that happened I would use the medela one in the shower with the warm water running over my breast.

[hamster]

Jul 31, 2019 20:53:23 GMT -5 namasteak said:

Jul 31, 2019 18:37:02 GMT -5 hamster said:

Yeah, definitely some kind of bleb. Swell. Hopefully I can get it resolved quickly

Do you have a hand pump? With my first 2 if that happened I would use the medela one in the shower with the warm water running over my breast.

Nope, just the spectra. I tried massaging it earlier, but it was right after a feeding so I was really just shooting milk out LOL. I'm about to take a shower though and I'll lather it in nipple cream after. It isn't too bad yet, so hopefully I caught it early. This shit didnt happen when I EPd!

[Susie]

DS STTN last night, AND woke up with his head still facing left, which is his less preferred side (torticollis)! And was looking left again this morning in his car seat! This excites me.

His PT app't yesterday took a lot of time for what felt like not a lot -- but it was nice to hear his case is not severe. Obviously we'll have to see how it goes and how he responds, but she said she might typically discharge a kid from PT with symptoms like his in 5-6 months. His teacher at daycare has done this before with other kids, so I feel good that he'll get the support he needs during the day with his stretches.

Unrelated, tonight I have to go to my firm's anniversary cocktail party (it's a milestone year and I am a partner). Since H and I carpool to work, a 4-8pm party is a pain. The TL;DR is that I will pick the kids up early and deliver them to him buckled into the car and he will take them home on his own. He'll have to get at least DD to bed (I told him to give DS a bottle, a fresh diaper, and then pop him in the Lillebaby until he gets DD down -- he will probably fall asleep and be fine).  Hopefully it goes smoothly so I can leave him with both kids without much grief in the future for things more fun than a work thing.

[Patsy Baloney]

Jul 31, 2019 15:23:18 GMT -5 Susie said:

At our well visit last week (2 mo.), our pedi asked me about our bedtime routine, and said now is the time to start working on setting DS down "sleepy but awake" so he can learn to soothe himself to sleep.  I'm totally on board in theory, but in practice -- can someone remind me how that works when baby is too young to CIO?  I mean, I set him down swaddled and sleepy, he'll cry... and then?  How do you make the magic happen?

With DD we soothed her to sleep until she was 7m, when we resorted to CIO.  We knew she could soothe to sleep because she was STTN, and so she must be able to get herself back to sleep -- she just wouldn't on the front end.  I would really like to get there sooner with DS.

At daycare he falls asleep in a crib, but they rock the cribs on wheels.  So even though he isn't held, it doesn't teach him to fall asleep without motion.

We're at 3 months, and since this is my last, I have been a very bad sleep facilitator and letting baby fall asleep on me every night. Oh well. I will reap what I sow and take the hit later on. 

When he stirs when I put him in his bassinet, I make sure he's got his pacifier and place my hand (with a little firmness) on his tummy/chest with a, "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," and a pat. This usually works to get him to settle back down. If there isn't any fussing/crying going on, I wait for the eyes to get heavy and then give more space between pats, then a still hand, then pull my hand away, then walk away. 

This worked for my DD, too. Man, she was such a good sleeper, I wish I could distill her sleep skills and give it to every parent. I think we also benefited from the never-changing bedtime routine - bath, bottle, story, lullaby, bed. We've started with bath, bottle, bed with DS, and the nights we skip bath, you can really, really tell. It takes him so much longer to get to sleep, he's more fitful, etc. 

Babies. SMH. 

[noodleoo]

FUCK. I got my 2nd post partem period and based on the cycle, I'm going to have my period during my entire vacation in Sept. This is our first real vacation in years, we're staying at a resort on the beach in Florida. This is also my 40th birthday trip (I told H all i wanted was to be on a beach). I'm so fucking pissed. I really hope my cycle is irregular, but unless it moves by a week, I'll still have it for part of the trip. We have such bad vacation luck. Last year it literally rained our entire vacation. The sun came out for the first time in 4 days as we were packing the car to drive home.

[oceanstbride]

I'm going back to work on Monday and am starting to freak out a little bit. This will be my first time returning to work and pumping (SAH with DS until he was 15m). I've been pumping so have a stash in the freezer and have been pumping more than DD drinks at a feeding so am not currently stressed out about that. DH will be home with her for August and then she'll go to daycare in Sept. Fingers crossed him feeding her will go better than it has been.

I'm planning on packing the following for Monday (hoping to pump 3 times). Any tips/suggestions for logistics welcome as I'm having a hard time with this!
Pump (unsure which one - I have PISA (leaning towards) and Spectra (pink)) which I will leave at work. Also have access to Symphony in lactation room. Side question - how do people use the Spectra? I am finding all of these pump routines that are a lot longer than I'd like to pump.
Extra bottles/caps. Figure I will dump one bottle into the other for each session (reusing one from the previous for the next session). So 4 bottles total?
Pump wipes
Wet bag/ziplock bag to put pump parts in fridge
Medela cooler bag/ice pack
Hands free bra - how do you do this at work? If I'm wearing something that has easy nursing access (wrap dress or nursing top), do you put hands free bra on over your shirt? Won't it get really wrinkly? See above that I'm struggling with logistics.

As I bring home milk, should I keep that in fridge to use for next day or should have DH defrost frozen milk?

Susie your post from your first day was super helpful!

[knx9211]

oceanstbride, I don't go here yet (getting close though!!) but I went part time after DS was born - I'm only in the office Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays, I'd put the milk in the fridge and it's what my mom would feed DS on Thursdays. I froze Thursdays milk since it wouldn't make it to Tuesday, and just had to take some out on Monday night or Tuesday morning to defrost for Tuesdays feedings.

I'm lucky to have an office with a door so I practically took my shirt off to put the hands-free bra on and start pumping. I usually had a wide-necked/wrap-style shirt with a tank underneath, so I'd just pull the shirt off and pull down the tank enough to get the bra set up underneath. My pumping sessions were SO LONG I'd be screwed if I ever had to stop working to do it. I had two sets of pump parts, and only pumped twice so I didn't have to worry about washing them.

[pandorica]

Jul 31, 2019 9:43:58 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Susie, we (well me) decided early on that all the pump parts and bottle washing was DH’s job. I’m doing all the work feeding/pumping so really only fair. Maybe discuss that with your DH?

This is how it works here too. Cleaning and putting together pump parts and bottles is 100% H's job.

[pooh8402]

oceanstbride, people make the Spectra out to be more complicated than it has to be. I essentially copied the medela settings. I do 2 minutes at 70 cycles, suction 2 (letdown phase). Then I do 7 minutes at 50 cycles, suction 5 (expression phase). Then I repeat the letdown and expression phases. It takes the same amount of time as my Medela.

I've always brought 6 bottles (usually use 5) because I sometimes pump enough on my first pump to need 2 bottles. This depends on the person. If I never pumped a combined 5+ oz, then I would bring 4.

I never wear dresses to work, but here is my set up (I'm literally pumping right now as I type, haha). Pull up top shirt. Pull down tank and bra. Strap on hands free bra. Pump.




I usually feed the fresh milk to E2 the next day (or day after) and freeze milk once a week to rotate.

[namasteak]

This pacifier is awesome for dispensing medicine. It’s become Ds3s favorite pacifier but I’m worried the little hole in it (for the medicine) means he will swallow air and cause gas. Any suggestion on a similar one? It looks like a soothie but the nipple part is longer.

[UMaineTeach]

Aug 1, 2019 19:45:19 GMT -5 namasteak said:

This pacifier is awesome for dispensing medicine. It’s become Ds3s favorite pacifier but I’m worried the little hole in it (for the medicine) means he will swallow air and cause gas. Any suggestion on a similar one? It looks like a soothie but the nipple part is longer.

Dr Brown?

This is neat, I was wondering what we might do when the hospital syringes with the tips were gone.

[UMaineTeach]

Aug 1, 2019 14:54:09 GMT -5 oceanstbride said:

I'm going back to work on Monday and am starting to freak out a little bit. This will be my first time returning to work and pumping (SAH with DS until he was 15m). I've been pumping so have a stash in the freezer and have been pumping more than DD drinks at a feeding so am not currently stressed out about that. DH will be home with her for August and then she'll go to daycare in Sept. Fingers crossed him feeding her will go better than it has been.

I'm planning on packing the following for Monday (hoping to pump 3 times). Any tips/suggestions for logistics welcome as I'm having a hard time with this!
Pump (unsure which one - I have PISA (leaning towards) and Spectra (pink)) which I will leave at work. Also have access to Symphony in lactation room. Side question - how do people use the Spectra? I am finding all of these pump routines that are a lot longer than I'd like to pump.
Extra bottles/caps. Figure I will dump one bottle into the other for each session (reusing one from the previous for the next session). So 4 bottles total?
Pump wipes
Wet bag/ziplock bag to put pump parts in fridge
Medela cooler bag/ice pack
Hands free bra - how do you do this at work? If I'm wearing something that has easy nursing access (wrap dress or nursing top), do you put hands free bra on over your shirt? Won't it get really wrinkly? See above that I'm struggling with logistics.

As I bring home milk, should I keep that in fridge to use for next day or should have DH defrost frozen milk?

Susie your post from your first day was super helpful!

Not a pump expert, but if you bring the PISA it will share parts with the Symphony. I don’t know about the crossover to the spectra.

I bring 5 bottles to pump twice, but I don’t reuse parts for the second pump. I borrowed a PISA, but only have the small 2oz hospital starter kit bottles for Medea. I pour into a bigger bottle for the first pump, as it’s the longest time from the morning pump and keep the milk in the tiny bottles the second time. Rarely I have to wipe out a small bottle from the first time and switch bottles in the middle of pumping. If I had full size medela bottles I would bring 4 to pump twice.

Ziplock bags for dirty parts and clean parts. Pump wipes. Would have been helpful the couple times I had a small spills to have a some cheaper baby wipes/hand sanitizer wipes. Bag with ice packs. There is no room in our refrigerator for parts or more lunchboxes. They are stacked up.

I did Bella Bands on the bottom to cover stomach, lifted up shirt and regular bra, put hand free bra on, wore a light sweater to cover back. I tried the simple wishes bra to be a ‘regular’ bra and a hands free, but to get it to hold my breasts up it had to be too tight, supply went down and I had uniboob.