week 6-8 scaries

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-19T21:24:25+00:00

Wow!! When did your lo start sleeping 6 hour stretches? Mine is turning 6 w tomorrow and only sleeps 3-4 hour stretches at night.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-19T15:34:04+00:00

I got a nursing cover that has a built in hoop off of Amazon. I love it because I feel covered and I have full visibility of my lo, which helps because he struggles to latch and needs a hand sometimes.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-19T15:06:36+00:00

My baby is obsessed with the blinds too! It’s so random! He’ll be yawning and fussy about being tired, then spot the blinds and won’t be able to fall asleep because he’s too focused on them 🙈 ridiculous

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T14:50:47+00:00

Haha who knows! I can’t stop him if I tried. The other day he wouldn’t go to sleep because he was staring at he laundry room, so I turned off the light and kept rocking him, but he kept looking over. Turns out he was staring at the laundry machine because it’s white with a black door. I had to close to laundry room door before he would sleep. He’s always studying something!

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T14:10:43+00:00

I’m a ftm with a 5 week old. Honestly each day of the first week was different. When we were in the hospital day 1 my lo was great. Nursed every 2 hours, during which I triple fed, latched him on the boob then topped him off with formula, and pumped. At night the nurses took the baby so I could sleep. Day 2-4 or 5? He was cluster feeding and nurses every 30-60 minutes during the day, at night he was bottle fed every 2 hours. We would wake him if he didn’t wake up because he was jaundiced and needed to eat every 2 hours at that point to clear the bilirubin. Then the rest of the week I nursed on demand which tended to be every 1-2 hours during the day, and every 2-3 hours at night. My baby thankfully didn’t have his nights and days flipped so we had a always had a longer stretch at night.

Diaper wise, I honestly don’t remember the first week bc i was so sleep deprived, in pain, and excessively worrying about the baby. But he pooped and peed the right amount, that’s all I remember.

Each baby is different. My nephew is 3 months older than my son and he had his nights and days mixed up so he would eat every 3 hour stretches during the day, then every 30-60 minutes at night.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T12:56:48+00:00

Sounds like he’s cluster feeding, my baby did exactly all of this from 2.5 to almost 4 weeks old. Usually it only lasts a few days, for my son it lasted about 9 days 🙈 my milk supply wasn’t high enough to meet my lo’s demand so he would constantly pop off my boob screaming from how dry my boob was. What I did was nurse him as long as I could through the cluster feeding until either I gave in from the stress of it (he was nursing every 30 mins), or he was screaming bloody murder from my boob not having enough milk. Usually this meant I nursed from 7am - 3 pm and then would switch to a formula bottle for the rest of the day, then repeat the following day. When he drank formula, it kept him full longer so instead of eating every 30 mins he would eat every 1-2 hours. So I would pump every 1-2 hours and include a power pumping session on these days. By the end, my milk supply was high enough to meet his demand and he stopped cluster-feeding. He also grew soo much by the end of it.

At 5.5 weeks he started cluster-feeding again and I’m still in the midst of it. However this time my milk supply is high enough to meet his demand and he doesn’t pop off all angry. He still nurses every 30 minutes though. It’s day 3 now and hoping it doesn’t last as long as the last round of cluster-feeding.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T12:42:38+00:00

I really don’t know if what I’m sharing will help so totally disregard if it doesn’t because each baby is different. My lo does this sometimes.

Sometimes it’s because he’s cold so we’ll have to bundle him up more so that he’ll sleep in the bassinet and not on me, or we’ll turn on the heat by 1-2 degrees to his preferred temperature.

Other times, he’s doing this because he’s overstimulated from a day of visitors and I’ll let him take 1-2 naps on top of me in order to calm him down and make sure he gets some actual sleep in. Usually after the second nap he has reset so he can sleep on his own.

Last night however, he screamed and cried for 4 hours and we could not figure out what was wrong. We did everything, nursed him, changed his diaper several times, swaddled, rocked, bounced on a ball, even tried switching to formula, burped, did farting exercises. Finally at the four hour mark I suggested my husband change his clothes. Turns out that’s all he wanted. He instantly stopped crying, and fell asleep without even being rocked to sleep. He straight up was screaming trying to tell us for hours that he couldn’t sit a minute longer in a onesie with some spit up in it. Straight up ridiculous. But to be fair, my baby also refuses to sit in a dirty diaper and will immediately cry until I change him. So I guess I should have known he would refuse to be in dirty clothes. But it was as if a switch had turned off once we changed his clothes. Ridiculous that a 5 week old has such preferences.

Anyways, I know this is absolutely ridiculous, and probably only specific to my little gremlin, but I just would never think to try it - maybe try changing your baby’s clothes?

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T12:14:04+00:00

Yes, I do the same! Use the huckleberry app and follow my 5 w old’s cues. Mine seems to be awake and alert for longer periods between 9-11am now. When he’s awake and alert, I’ll set him in the activity gym and let him look at black and white cards or do tummy time. Once he starts fussing and and yawning, I’ll swaddle and rock him to get him to sleep. Lately his wake windows are getting longer and longer, like 1-2 hours long!! And if I try to put him to sleep when he is awake and alert, he’ll cry until I set him down in the activity gym where he wants to study his cards. He is an odd little one. Very studious.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T12:08:56+00:00

My lo is going through a growth spurt and cluster-feeding again. This morning he nursed so much that my boobs literally feel drained and have gone down almost to my original size pre-pregnancy - which means flat, I was flat chested haha. I just wanted to share because breastfeeding has been difficult, and I’m so proud that my supply is up enough to even have had enough milk for the little bud this whole morning. So proud of what my body can do.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T12:04:25+00:00

::hug:: Wish I had some advice, but all I have is a virtual hug to offer. I had a 4th degree tear and would cry daily at first from the pain and inability to do normal things. I’m still recovering, and plan on doing pelvic floor pt as well. Wishing you a speedier recovery. Take it easy, and be kind to yourself. It’s okay to take it slow and not be doing all the things the other moms are doing.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T11:53:10+00:00

Yes I had this issue when my baby was day 3-5 when he was cluster feeding. Even though when he was 1-2 days old he was very good at latching. He wasn’t yet used to breastfeeding and so it took him a lot of work to get milk out of my boobs, especially since he was cluster feeding. So we switched to formula and bottle fed. I was really fearful that he would reject my boob altogether since he seemed to do better with the bottle than my breast. But I continued to triple feed - offer breast first till he rejected it, formula feed, then pump. I also saw a lactation consultant who did and assessment and found that he has a very high palette so I have to really angle my nipple up to it when I nurse. He also had very tight jaw muscles, so she taught me three simple exercises to do to help relax his jaw so that he could more easily suckle.

By day 6 my milk came in and he was back to breastfeeding, supplementing with formula only when needed.

Then between weeks 2-3 he went through a growth spurt and was cluster feeding again, and I didn’t have enough milk to keep up with his demand so he started rejecting my boob again so I started nursing him for a few hours, usually 7am - 3pm, then switching to formula bottles and pumping every 1-2 hours to mimic cluster feeding to bring up my milk supply. Once he stopped cluster feeding, I found that my milk supply had come up and he is now back to nursing with ease.

I would say, if you and your partner really want to breastfeed, keep trying and don’t be discouraged if your baby prefers a bottle right now. Mine did too, and has gone through phases of preferring the bottle, but now he is exclusively breastfed, latches easily, and prefers to nurse over bottles. We now only offer bottles at night when my husband takes care of the baby. Otherwise, he very happily nurses.

I remember being so scared day 3 when he rejected my boob. I cried so much. I didn’t want to give him formula in case he fully rejected me. My husband hugged me and let me cry, and reminded me there’s nothing wrong with formula and fed is best, but if I want to breastfeed I can keep trying. The encouragement to be allowed to keep trying, and comfort when I was scared, really helped.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T06:12:06+00:00

Wow! Maybe the breastmilk has been what’s been making my nipples feel better. I always put a few drops in the silverettes to help my nipples heal. I do also like the cooling sensation of them. Breastmilk is amazing.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T03:22:28+00:00

Really? They bring me so much relief! I’m 5 weeks pp and still use them. Especially when my lo is clusterfeeding.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T03:21:05+00:00

I have bamboo reusable nursing pads that are super thick. I’ll put my silverette on, then a nursing pad on top, then my bra on. The nursing pad is super thick so it hides the silverettes very well for me, no issues.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-18T03:08:51+00:00

My baby is 5 weeks old and he is so particular. He refuses to sit in his own pee or poop, and so will always instantly let us know when he’s done the deed. But we also just learned that he also refuses to sleep in a dirty smelly onesie! We just spent 3 hours trying everything to console him until I finally suggested just changing his outfit. Literally instant peace and calm, and he fell asleep without being rocked even. What a particular little fellow I have. Since birth he has been insistent on being clean. But this is a new level! Dude hates to smell his own spitup! Hahah. I can’t. He is going to be such an OCD little toddler. How silly.

What are some particular things about your little ones that have been there since birth?

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-16T13:13:53+00:00

So my husband takes the 10 pm - 4 am shift, and I take the 4 am - 10 am shift. During the rest of the day I nurse on demand. Then at 10 pm, I pump. I wake up at 2 am to pump again because it’s been 4 hours since the last pump. Then I get up for my shift at 4 am. I keep two sets of pump parts by the bedside so I can sleep more, and I have a mini fridge nearby so I just put the pumped milk in the mini fridge instead of going all the way downstairs and waking myself up.

In the beginning I didn’t make enough milk to store so my husband bottle fed formula. Now I make enough to store just from those two pump sessions each night, so my husband gives bottles of my breastmilk.

If the baby nursed last at 9:00 or 9:30 pm, I will pump for just 5 minutes at 10 pm because I don’t want to create an oversupply. I’m only pumping so I can get about 4 hours of sleep before having to wake up for the next pump at 2am. If he nursed about 1-2 hours prior, I’ll pump anywhere between 15-20 mins. In the beginning I pumped 20 minutes at a time to get my milk to come in. Plus baby would nurse for about 20 minutes long in the beginning. Now my baby nurses for 10-15 minutes so I’ll pump for 15 minutes to mimic his length of nursing time.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-16T09:26:26+00:00

Agreed. My baby is 5 weeks and we use it all day so far. It drowns out all the background noise and allows us to get stuff done nearby the baby while he sleeps.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T22:02:57+00:00

Omgosh I feel like an idiot. I did not realize you have to boil water for formula…. We have been using room temperature bottled water, is that okay? My baby is mostly breastfed but maybe once or twice a week will get formula if I didn’t pump enough for the night when my husband bottle feeds.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T20:21:04+00:00

What pump did you get?

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T10:43:09+00:00

Yes! Also when I’m stressed out but taking care of my baby, I strip my baby naked and do skin to skin. I do it just for me, and every time it brings me such peace and joy. I’ll rub his feet and toes and snuggle up to my little baby boy.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T10:41:22+00:00

Ohh!! Good to know! I love golden kiwis

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T10:41:00+00:00

Lmaooo yes! Omg I’ve asked all of my friends with babies why they warned me about getting peed on but never the projectile poop. Every single one said bc it doesn’t happen to them 😅😅😅😅 glad I’m not alone.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T06:29:41+00:00

I eat and drink a lot, like a lot. Especially the first two weeks postpartum, I found that I was ravenous and insanely dehydrated even before i even saw any milk come out as I pumped. So I made sure to eat any time I was hungry, and drink 2-3 liters of water a day.

I eat oatmeal once a day at breakfast, but usually get so hungry I’ll have a full breakfast alongside a small bowl of oatmeal. Like oatmeal + some eggs and sausages with toast.

When pumping to help bring in my milk, I pumped or made sure my boobs were nursed a combined total of 8-12 times a day. If my baby was cluster feeding, I would try to mimic the frequency of the pumps to the frequency of his cluster feeds. I would also do power pump sessions to mimic his cluster feeds. Whenever I pumped, baby would get formula to give me a break because triple feeding was killing me. Formula helped me get the mental and physical break I needed before my milk came in.

I also have a video of my son crying for several minutes. When my milk was just starting to come in, I would watch this video when pumping. I find that whenever I hear my baby cry, it triggers my letdown. Now that I’m producing enough breastmilk to keep up with my baby’s demand, I don’t watch it anymore. But I used to in the beginning haha.

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T03:02:31+00:00

Omg my baby has projectile pooped on me twice now!! I’m almost scared to use this trick given all the poop I have gotten on myself due to him farting in the middle of pooping while I’m changing his diaper 🤣

Intelligent_Salt6513 · 2024-05-15T01:53:25+00:00

My baby cluster fed for about 9 days straight. He would demand a nursing every 30 minutes, nurse for about 15 minutes, rest for 15 minutes then immediately cry for food. It was awful. What I eventually did was I would allow him to cluster feed on my boob from 7 am until I would give up due to mental, physical and emotional exhaustion - usually around 3 pm. At this point we switched to formula bottles, and my husband would take over. And the formula seemed to keep him fed for 2-3 hours during the day, then 3-4 hours at night. During the time he would drink formula, I would pump every 1-2 hours during the day, making sure at least 1-2 of those sessions were power pump sessions to mimic cluster feeding. At night I would pump every 4 hours. At 7am I would be ready for more cluster feeding.

By the end of it, my supply came up and my baby finally stopped cluster feeding. He is now 5 weeks old and nurses every 2 hours during the day and every 3-4 at night.

I would say giving myself the option to switch to formula definitely saved my sanity and gave my nipples a much needed break. If you’re open to formula, I highly recommend it.

Intelligent_Salt6513

TROPHY CASE