I'm back

Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:38 AM

So I'm back from my 2 week trip.  BIL's wedding was okay, it was tough on both Danny and I.  Danny was in the wedding party and didn't have the greatest time and my parents were supposed to come to help me with the baby but my Uncle was in the hospital so they couldn't come. After the wedding weekend we headed to our hometown to visit family and for Danny to go hunting.  It was nice to see everyone but oh my gosh it was exhausting. First off I got mastitis on the way home. I had lumps in one of my breasts and I ended up getting a fever - not so fun when you're travelling with a little one.  It went away within a few days thank goodness.  Seth was very fussy while we were there, poor guy.  Every day he went through a fussy period, actually it occurred every single evening and it still is happening. He tends to be gassy in the evenings and he's also tired but forces himself awake. It's SO hard to put him asleep. Plus I felt like he was being passed from person to person way too much. At the end of our stay, I was so ready to go home everyone was irritating me. Everyone had their stupid opinions and even though they wouldn't say them outright they implied them.  My Dad kept saying I overfed Seth, my IL's were also thinking this, my Mom seemed to be irritated with the fact that it was hard for me to go out with Seth because he was so cranky.  We were at the hunting camp one day and MIL had Seth, he started rooting on her and I told her he was hungry but she kept trying to calm him down, so I must have told her around 4 times that he was hungry but she wouldn't give him to me. I had to go up and take Seth out of her arms....  They bottlefed their kids so they are not used to how often a breastfed baby needs to eat plus Seth tends to "snack" and take his time at the breast, they just don't understand that. Anyways, I was at my wits end.  Everyone was irritating me plus Danny was hunting in the bush so I was on my own.  Although it was stressful I'm glad we went and the family got to see Seth, there was alot of good quality time spent with them, I'm just really glad to be home and just be our little family for awhile.

Danny's hunting group got two Moose.  Seth and I were at the camp when they got the second moose. Seth had his little hunting outfit on and he would not take his eyes off Danny, it was so sweet. I guess because he hadn't seen him in a few days at that point when he saw him and heard his voice he wouldn't stop staring at him.  

So we're back home now and trying to get back into some sort of schedule.  Seth is terribly fussy in the evenings, I'd say it's almost colic.  It takes hours to put him to sleep and he's gassy most nights.  It's like my exercise starts at around 5pm every night because that's when the bouncing, rocking, jogging up and down the stairs, doing squats around the house, bouncing on the bed, any type of movement you can imagine with Seth in my arms to try and calm him down.    Danny will only take him for a few minutes before he passes him back to me.  He can't seem to handle the crying and he's told me he feels useless, although he's been so helpful in other ways like taking care of the house and making sure I'm comfortable. It's so hard because Seth is so smiley and happy all day long and then 5pm hits and Danny gets home and the fussiness starts.  Danny rarely sees him happy and feels like only I can calm Seth down. Plus Seth will root in the evening but will not eat. I don't think it's anything I'm eating, I don't eat dairy, wheat, I only have a few sips of coffee in the morning.  He had the rest of his tongue tie clipped yesterday morning and his latch feels tighter so maybe that will help some.  I'm pretty sure it's due to my fast flow/let-down.  When I let-down I can seriously shoot my milk like 4 to 5 feet at times, it's insane and kind of fun when I aim it at Danny lol.  We're going to go back to see the lactation consultants on Friday, we need some help.  I tried feeding on one side per feeding and the block feedings but he gets so upset at night that I'm switching so much and I lose track. Plus getting the mastitis while we were away has discouraged me from doing the block feedings although I'm pretty sure it was caused by a tight bra and not enough fluids. Anyways, that is our problem lately, Seth is fussy in the evenings, my poor little baby. Anyone have any advice?

I've missed so much while I was away.  Rachel having her baby! YAY and Kim finding out it's a girl! CONGRATS! What else have I missed, fill me in please!!!! 

I'll try and post some pics later.  Hope everyone is doing well. 

Posted by rlteddy

Comments

re: I'm back

I know exactly how you feel about all the opinions. I think our parents' generation thought formula was the way to go, because everyone tells me I need to be supplementing. Glad you had a good weekend overall. And hopefully BFing gets better, I got a mild case of mastitis at about 2 weeks and it was no fun at all.

Rachel had Sam at 36 weeks by emergency c-section. We saw on her FB that she had him, but we didn't know any more for almost a week, so we were all super nervous. They are both doing well, though, and we have decided to assign labor buddies to the pregnant girls so they can text/call someone to update everyone. So I am in charge up updating everyone on Kim's little Piper when she makes her grand entrance! :D

Ok, I've rambled. Sorry, glad you're back. :D

Posted by LoveInCowboyBoots    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:51 AM


re: I'm back

Hopefully Seth can have some happier evenings now that he is back at home and not be passed around!

Posted by NikkiJ19    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:00 AM


re: I'm back

hey glad to hear from you!! yea i know my cousins have dealt with the baby being passed around and its nice everyone wants to see the baby but its soo hard on the parents .. o man! well at least you had some time away with family and Danny was able to go hunting! that stinks about the crankiness.. hopefully gets better soon :)

Posted by MrsB4E    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:04 AM


re: I'm back

It totally is stressful when everyone wants to hold baby; they get overwhelmed so quickly!  I know when I was in the hosp w/Jax my MIL was visiting and he got fussy so she popped a pacifier in his mouth I just about flipped sh*t at her.

A question about his fussiness.  Do you wrap Seth up in a blanket?  With both Jax and Kara wrapping them a la Dr. Karp was almost an instant reliever; if not it at least helped and combine that with a pacifier (sometimes) and the funny shooshing/white noise and it helped with their fussiness 75% of the time.  We also have a womb bear attached to Kara's bassinet that helps in the evenings; we got ours at Wal-Mart for less then $20.

To keep track of which side I left on I made myself a bracelet or I'll wear a hair tie around my wrist and switch it at the end of each feeding.  

Posted by lildahls    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:45 AM


re: I'm back

I like the labor buddy idea!

lidalhs - I try wrapping Seth up but it actually makes him worse.  I have a bracelet I wear but like I said in the evening he's so fussy that I'm trying everything to calm him down that I try switching boobs and i lose track at that point, during the day the bracelet works though,  As for the pacifier, *sigh* Seth refuses to take it, we've tried around 4 different kinds now and it's a no go.  He's even having trouble taking a bottle which means no breaks for me,  I'm definately going to look into the womb bear !

Posted by rlteddy    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 10:29 AM


re: I'm back

Hey I'm so excited your back, we missed you!!! I'm sorry you didn't have the best time on vacation, but it was worth it to your family. I'm sure they really really appreciated it.  You didn't miss a ton, I am kiwi's labor buddy!! and Ben and I are in the process of making an offer on hopefully our first home (fingers crossed)!!!!

Posted by amccul20    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 11:48 AM


re: I'm back

Are Seth's poops the typical mustard yellow color of a breastfed baby? Or are they greenish in color? After we had Martha on a new acid reflux medicine, that had gotten better but she was still really fussy/gassy (especially at night). I read about foremilk/hindmilk imbalance where if the baby is getting too much foremilk (the milk that comes out first from a full breast) they have a harder time digesting since the foremilk has more lactose than the baby can handle. The symptoms of this are green explosive poo, fussiness, and frequent hunger (since the baby isn't getting the richer/fattier hindmilk they become hungry more often. My LC told me to try block feeding to prevent this, however, I find block feeding really annoying since the other breast gets way too full by going two feedings in a row on the other side.

We have the "Sleep Sheep" for Martha, sounds like the same thing as the womb bear. It makes white noise sounds. It works about 80% of the time to calm her down, if I put it right up next ot her head in her crib.

I hear you about the whole getting irritated with IL and advice and too many people holding baby! I had the same thing happen where my MIL would not hand Martha back to me to feed her, and I had to finally just take her from her.

Posted by phinneygirl79    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 1:36 PM


re: I'm back

Sorry about the fussiness/ILs/Fam drama.  I can't offer any help on Seth but glad you're back!!!

Posted by NithyaV    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:00 PM


re: I'm back

It's most likely not colic.  Most babies will go through a period of crankiness in the evenings, that can last for up to 4 hours a night for a couple of weeks.  We had it.  Swaddling helped a ton, but I see it doesn't work as well for you, as well as other techniques from the Happiest Baby on the Block book/DVD.  It will pass.  

I kept track of nursing by my nursing pads.  I would put a pad in on the side I wasn't feeding on (for leaking) and would just leave it in.  Then when it was time to feed, I knew it was on the side where the pad was and would just move the pad over to the other side.  I didn't have problems leaking in between feedings after the first month or so, but if you are then it wouldn't work.

Posted by edmo    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 1:50 PM


re: I'm back

Phinney - I had suspected hindmilk/foremilk imbalance but he has always had mustard colour poos, however they are quite explosive which makes me wants to blame my fast flow. I'm really hoping the lactation consultant can help us out.   Has the block feeding helped Martha???

I really think it is colic because he seems to be fighting with gas and pushing in the evenings and it's full out crying that lasts for over 4 hours.   The crying started while we were away and has been every night since. It was just fussiness at first and lots of feeding in the evenings but now it's crying fits,,,, *sigh* I hope it doesn't last much longer....

Posted by rlteddy    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2:21 PM


re: I'm back

It was great to see a post for you! Hope the issue with the little man gets solved soon!

Posted by Kim B.    Wednesday, October 21, 2009 5:03 PM


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About rlteddy

My DH and I were married on August 30th, 2008 in our hometown on a beautiful day - could not have asked for anything better. We welcomed our first baby on August 21,2009!


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