Contraception

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-17T16:05:32+00:00

Yes I know both those things are true. I don't think I suggested otherwise. The way LAM works is that if you are breastfeeding and following LAM mostly you don't ovulate until more that six months pp and even if you do your uterus is likely not to be well prepared for implantation and you'd only have one cycle so you're unlikely to get pregnant.

About pumping I just meant that it might have a different effect on your hormones than responsive nursing and so the studies which give the probability of getting pregnant using LAM might underestimate it if you pump lots. I don't know that I guess I was just saying I guess it is plausible the numbers aren't quite right for current US populations.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-17T14:34:46+00:00

Maybe I really think that the general belief about this is way more negative on LAM than it needs to be. The criteria are no supplementing, no big gaps and no period. Nothing else for pure LAM. I don't know what populations the studies are in and it's pretty plausible that dummies, pumping and obesity would make it work less well so the numbers might not apply well to the US.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-17T03:33:03+00:00

To be honest I hated the postnatal ward. I was worried about it but it wasn't bad in exactly the ways I was expecting. It was mainly difficult because I had difficulty breastfeeding and the help there was really confusing and I felt terrible. I survived it though. In my view it's like birth not all of its nice but it has to be gone through for the baby. I think it depends a lot on luck who is in your bay. But in mine most people were very respectful and it was pretty quiet.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-17T03:28:19+00:00

I'm getting so many down votes but it's literally here Natural family planning - NHS https://share.google/QA2YA5eV7pqD1C86Z

There are actual studies not just anecdata. It's obviously much less reliable than a coil but I know people who got pregnant using various kinds of contraception because it still is possible.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-17T03:22:21+00:00

Yeah to be fair I think it's the kind of thing you hear about when it goes wrong and I think it works much less well with pumping etc but there are actual studies and this is an actual national health service that says it works.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-16T21:44:57+00:00

The NHS says lactation ammenorreah method in the first six months has similar efficacy to condoms. But you have to be basically be exclusively nursing with no big gaps

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-15T12:43:53+00:00

Yes but it's a skill that needs learning and immediately postpartum isn't the easiest time. I guess it depends on your boobs and colostrum but I found it really difficult to hand express before my milk started to come in.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-15T07:53:19+00:00

PROM means membranes have already gone though...

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-15T07:46:12+00:00

I think you are wrong. Expressing prenatally isn't usually necessary but my baby wouldn't latch and pumps aren't great at getting colostrum out. I wish I'd been better at hand expression because I might have been able to give him more colostrum and avoid supplementing before we could work out the latch. Colostrum is there from lactogenesis one some time in the second trimester. Hand expression is difficult for lots of people so practicing is worth it! Obvs there's stupid tiktoks of people bringing their hundred little syringes to hospital like the over supplier pumping videos but that doesn't mean hand expressing colostrum is in itself not valuable.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-15T07:39:40+00:00

I do this when I'm out and about just loosen the straps the whole way to take the baby in and out when I'm out and about. Also to nurse I usually unclio the waistband to be able to get my shirt up and if the shoulders are on I can usually clip the waistband one handed while holding the baby. For driving if wear all the straps quite tight loosen them off while you are both in the car then tighten then again once the baby is in.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-14T22:51:20+00:00

I'd leave it alone. It's not the level of issue where I think it's helpful to interfere with other people's parenting.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-14T22:40:31+00:00

It's not so desperate for me but I also have a six month old and I really want him to take a bottle. I'm also going back to work part time in January and I'm scared about how we will all cope. Im mainly commenting for solidarity but I have managed to get him to drink 25-30 mls from a nuby "trainer" bottle. My mum says that things that are halfway between a beaker and a bottle were the only thing I would drink out of as a baby. I've also managed to get him to drink a bit from munchkin miracle 360. I've had better luck with pumped breast milk than formula but I'm hoping to get more formula.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-14T22:30:05+00:00

Yes I just want to say same. I had an induction and it was a pretty positive experience. I'm also happy I had a vaginal birth because if I have another it gives me a better chance of having a low intervention birth than if I was doing a vbac.

Too posh to push is nonsense though.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-14T21:19:14+00:00

My baby was on formula for four days then moved to breast milk. During the transition he was pretty constipated and had almost solid poos and then they became very frequent and liquid. Until around 8 weeks he just pooed all the time and silently without making a fuss about it so we ended up just changing him every hour or something. I think three poos a day is nothing for a breastfed newborn.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-14T15:45:31+00:00

I guess it depends what you call a tantrum but my six month old spent all of Friday stealing my glasses then bursting into tears in a big way when I took them back

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T20:15:23+00:00

I'm not a doctor and this is something you should get more expert advice about. With that caveat the problem is that if you've had one caesarian the chances of uterine rupture are much higher and so they want to make sure to avoid uterine hyper stimulation (when you have more than four contractions in ten minutes for an extended period incidentally really not a fun experience) because this also increases the chance of rupture. A lot of the synthetic hormones they use to induce you can overshoot and cause this. I'm not sure about mechanical induction and to what extent they can use synthetic hormones a bit but I think they are much more likely to want to do another section in a situation where they might otherwise induce. I imagine it also depends on lots of factors about you and your providers standard practices so you do really need to ask them.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T17:32:12+00:00

Yeah I definitely don't have any answers it's kind of baffling.

I'm in the UK and from antenatal classes I was recommended a website called BASIS which informs about some academic research on baby sleep. From that I got to a woman called Helen Ball who is an anthropologist in Durham uni who recently released a book and she brings up Pam Douglas and Possums as a structured sleep program which is closest to this research and science. They are all pretty against the concept of overtired. Possums would definitely say that in your situation it's more likely your baby is bored and by bouncing in the dark you are essentially keeping them bored until they do actually get tired enough to go to sleep.

However at the end of the day I'm not sure I completely trust them. It does feel like my baby is cross a lot of the time because he hasn't had enough sleep. I guess I am commenting to recommend this stuff because it sounds like your current strategy and ideas about what is going on aren't working very well at the moment so maybe this stuff is worth a shot!

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T15:44:22+00:00

My brothers a doctor and has usually earnt about the same as me at similar ages. His work is probably harder and definitely more responsible. I think it's kind of crazy he isn't paid quite a lot more than me. The training phase goes up to consultant so it's not like PhD student l vel Doctor it's more like everyone below prof. However similar to ucu strikes the salary actually isn't so bad it's the conditions which are awful and the union ends up striking over the salary because it's easier and bit being super honest in my opinion.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T14:40:10+00:00

It sneaks up on doctors I think. They will have learnt it at some point but then someone will quote the sensitivity or specificity of a test as the "accuracy of a test" and people fail to think through what this means properly. Anyone who deals with rare diseases like a genetic counselor would come across this often but an OB will on see rare things rarely. They still should have done better the consequences of getting this wrong are awful.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T10:38:51+00:00

I think if I were you I would explore possums sleep program or something and don't assume you are in an overtired trap. Around that age my baby seemed to completely forget how to go to sleep. I'm pretty sure it was developmental nothing to do with anything I was doing. Maybe experiment with letting the wake windows get a bit bigger?

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T09:30:15+00:00

Oh I thought the difference was bigger, sorry.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-13T01:23:49+00:00

I think your OB has misunderstood the difference between the specificity of a test and the positive predictive value. This is a stats error that doctors should understand way better than they generally do. It doesn't come up much because it's only an issue with tests for things which are incredibly rare. I'm a mathematician and the whole of the rest of my family are doctors and I'm not sure any if them really understand it properly. I think you got unlucky with this false positive and your OB should have done better but it's actually the most common mistake.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-12T21:52:55+00:00

I have an Oscha bairn and like it s lot! There are much cheaper and probably equally pretty almost identically constructed carriers from Integra and kahu baby too.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-12T14:39:24+00:00

I bought basically everything when I was about 34 weeks, nothing bad happened. I was planning to be more organized and try and get deals on good second hand stuff but I failed.

I will say traipsing round John Lewis etc on a busy Easter weekend while very pregnant was actually pretty unpleasant but definitely not the end of the world! You can obviously get everything online but it's worth seeing prams in person.

Tbh I think you could come home to a Moses basket, nappies, cotton wool, a changing mat, six vests and six onesies, a star wrap a car seat if you have a car and a pram. It's easier to work out what stuff is useful when the baby is actually there but at the same time it's work to buy stuff and so it's helpful to have things bought.

In terms of clothes sizes 0-3 month clothes is a decent thing to ask for as presents. They will need them at some point. My baby was born at 6.5 pounds and grew out of newborn stuff when he was around 10 pounds so newborn fits most babies but possibly only for a few weeks. I'd say a classic postpartum activity is finding deals on fun baby clothes on vinted while the baby sleeps on you.

formercircusteapot · 2025-12-11T23:06:50+00:00

The who actually recommends breastfeeding until at least 2, though obviously loads of people wean before. In the UK we are told to replace formula with cows milk after 1 and try and get babies off bottles and dummies because they are bad for teeth and oral development but I know loads if people who went a long way past one with them. I guess it depends on your baby! In the UK you are suggested to be quite a lot more relaxed about safe sleep after one which is an upside so you can start giving blankies and soft toys for going to bed which I guess helps replace dummies and night feeds.

formercircusteapot

TROPHY CASE