4 Month Sleep Recession!

I was hoping the 4 month sleep recession was a myth but it appears not! Ebens never been the greatest sleeper but not too bad usually 8-2/3 then 6 ish he's awake or 7 if I'm lucky! But more or less the night he turned 4 months he's been awful! Last night he woke about every hour and a half for a comfort/ feed! I guess I should could my blessings though, I have a beautiful baby boy, who doesn't cry when he wakes just fusses a bit and I'm luckily I'm breastfeeding as if I had to make a bottle every time he needed a feed I would definitely be a zombie! But we are cosleeping so it's easy to get him back to sleep just hold him a little closer and cuddle and feed him back to sleep! I must admit as tired as I am I know I need to treasure these nighttime cuddles as they wont last forever and we're not having anymore babies.

16 weeks! Baby, body, time!

So I haven't written a blog post in a long time! It turns out having two children is bloody hard work!! Eben is now 16.5 weeks old today and he just has his vaccinations today 🙁. So I think our main struggle is bedtime and the fact that Eben hates (hopefully hated bottles!). Bedtime wasn't too bad whilst it was dark but now the evening are getting lighter it's harder to get both my boys down to sleep. It's hard to have routine as well when some days Reubies at nursery or his Nannas or my hubby is playing football or band practising. When we're having a good night Eben is asleep by about 8.30 and so is Reubie in his bed, then at about 3am Eben wakes for a feed and Reubie comes in bed with us and there's four in a bed! On a bad night there's 4 in a bed at 8.30 and Eben decides he wants to feed hourly!
As I said earlier Eben has been refusing bottles. I was hoping to get him to have one as I had a night out about 2 weeks ago now and was going to be away from him for 8 hours. Well I went out and Eben wouldn't take a bottle and spent the night screaming! We had tried tommee tippee closer to nature (which he fed from for a few occasions at around 6 weeks when I was exhausted) but he refused them, he also refused Avent, cheapo ones from poundland (Reubie used to love the cheapo ones! They have a super soft teat!) and we tried one we found in homebargains that Ican't remember the name of, the tiny premise cow and gate ones designed for newborns and Mam. He sort of seemed to like the cow and gate bottles but not enough to have more than a quarter of a bottle and they only hold 2 ounces! After my night out I stopped trying for a while as I thought it didn't matter if he wouldn't take s bottle as I wouldn't be leaving him again. Then the other day I realised its only 10 weeks until I'm back to work! So yesterday I got out the Mam bottle and tried it again and to my surprise he drank 3 1/2 oz! So my top is have your baby not on you if possible and facing away, I have him on a bouncy chair. I definitely recommend Mam bottles you can sterilise them in the microwave so fab if your going away as uou won't have to lug a steriliser away with you! Tonight was nearly as successful as yesterday. I got hubby to try and Eben decided to scream! I took over and breastfed him until he was settled and then snuck the bottle in and it worked! He took 2oz with hubby some how tgrough all the crying and another 3 from me! And currently as I type he's back on the boob do I'm hoping he's fed well and may sleep for a longer stretch than usual tonight!
Now at 16.5weeks since giving birth in definitely getting out more, we go to baby massage every Monday and in a Tuesday when Reubie goes to my mums Eben and I often join them but we walk the 4 miles there! I'm trying to lose my last bit of baby weight and I'm not very good at not eating chocolate so I'm trying to walk more! I lost a stone just giving birth and another in the following 2 weeks but the last stone was proving impossible but slowly but surely is coming off I've got just over half a stone to lose, it's not really about the weight though I just want to be able to wear all of my nice clothes!

Lactation Boosting Flapjacks

I've been breastfeeding Eben but in the last week we've given him a formula feed at bedtime so that I get a bit of a break and so daddy can have some time with Eben. Although I'm not having that much of a break as I'm expressing so we can stop the formula and just give breast milk. At least when expressing I don't need to burp and then settle my breasts off to sleep after! So it allows me a few hours sleep early one in the night, which definitely helps me to function. Anyways I'm not really worried about my supply as my boy is growing rapidly before my eyes but if I could increase it so I can get a little supply stored in my freezer I'll be very happy! This led me to look online for ways to increase milk supply. I found that the main things to increase supply are drinking lots, eating oats, brewers yeast and linseeds (aka flaxseeds). I then found a recipe for lactation cookies and decided to try baking something of my own. So below is my recipe for lactation flapjacks. I've used the basic flapjack recipe of 125g of sugar and margarine and 250g of oats and 2 tablespoons of golden syrup and adapted it.

Ingredients

regular flapjacks on the left
 lactation flapjacks on the right

250grams of Porridge oats
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
2 tablespoons of Brewers yeast
1 handful of Sunflower seeds
1 handful of Flaked almonds
50grams of ground Linseeds
125grams Sugar (any sugar soft brown is great but I just use regular caster sugar)
125grams Margarine (can use butter if you prefer)
2 tablespoons of Agave syrup (any syrup is fine ie: maple, golden etc)

Method

First preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line your tin. Weigh out all the dry ingredients apart from the sugar into a bowl and combine. Weigh out the margarine, sugar and syrup into a sauce pan and gently melt together. Once melted add to the dry ingredients and thoroughly combine, it is quite a dry mixture if you prefer gooey flapjacks add more syrup. Once combined flatten into the greased and lined tray. To insure they don't crumble I then cover with clingfilm and really press down with my hands so there are no cracks and it's nice and flat. Then bake after removing the clingfilm, for about 15 minutes or until golden. When they are cooked remove from the tray straight away, I usually ensure I have excess greaseproof paper when I line my tray so I can gently lift the slab of flapjacks out. Then cut into pieces, I usually cut into 15 small pieces. Leave them to cool for a bit on the greaseproof and unseparated, once cooled lift the individually onto a wire rack to continue cooling. This ensures minimum breakage and crumbling.

As I said before this is just based on a simple flapjack recipe so you could add or take out whatever you like. Brewers yeast isn't the most pleasant tasting to you definatley want some spice to disguise it but you could use ginger instead of cinnamon or try adding more sugar.

What to buy a new mother

So my newest tiny human is nearly 6 weeks old and it's been the hardest work having 2 children! I take my hat off to single mums and families with more than 2, I really don't think I could cope with any more, 2 is definitely hard enough for me. Eben has been feeding constantly and only really settling to sleep on me, which is hard work. I've been using my sling a lot to get things done around the house and I'm trying to take him out in the pram so that he's not permenately attached to my boob. in the last couple of days I've managed to get him to sleep in his pram for a couple of hours at a time so I feel like hopefully this is a break through! Any how I thought I'd write a post about what gifts a new mum really wants! I know people love to buy clothes and toys for babies and I've loved all the gifts I've been given but the best gifts I have been given haven't really cost anything just time.

So if you know someone who is due to give birth soon by all means buy them something pretty and cute for the baby but also consider the following:

• A cooked dinner. Something like a cottage pie, a lasagne, basically something that can be reheated or frozen and ideally is large enough that there are leftovers! Having said that finding it hard to ever have my hands free I would even have been grateful for some sandwiches! They're easy to grab and eat when you only have one hand free whilst you're trying to feed a baby. Or order them a takeaway or buy some ready meals that can fill the fridge or freezer. Food will always be happily received.
• Offer to babysit. I don't mean the newborn as until the babies older it's unlike to settle easily without its mum and mum won't relax imagining her baby screaming! But if you can take away any older children it will give mum, dad and the new baby quite time to bond together. It also means a fuss can be made of the older children who probably feel a bit put out and would like some attention.
• Do their laundry. This is something that when you offer to do it will probably be declined. My lovely mother in law offered and we declined but luckily for us she was persistent and made us fill a bag for her to take away. So be persistent and keep asking I'm sure the new parents want to say yes but just don't want to put you out!
• When you visit be the host. Offer to make tea etc and if you're feeling especially lovely do a bit of washing up or whatever needs doing in the kitchen whilst you're in there!
• Look after the newborn at their home. As I said earlier mum and baby won't want to be far apart but there are things she may want to do without having a baby attached to her like have a bath or a nap. So offer to go over for a couple of hours so mum can have a break.

With all these suggestions keep asking and offering, and sometimes don't take no for an answer! I know I find it hard to ask or accept help but sometimes need it.

Surviving Post Partum Pain

So my gorgeous new tiny human Eben is now 3 1/2 weeks old and other than having a bloody annoying sore throat that won't go away I'm actually feeling like my normal self! But if someone had told me 'don't worry you will feel normal again' in the days after giving birth I wouldn't have believed them! I was in a lot of pain. Mu first being a premmie maybe made the pain less or it could have just been that survival having to get on with it thing that meant I didn't notice the pain? Any how this time I felt it! I had to have 2 stiches due to a second degree tear this time whereas last time I had a graze. Both are painful but the stitches being on the outside probably make them slightly more painful. When I posted ion instagram about the pain from stitches I got lots of helpful tips, so for those mummies suffering or for those who maybe giving birth soon try these!:

* Lavender and Tea Tree oil in the bath, first put the drops into a small glass of milk as this helps the oils to disperse in the bath rather than sit on the top and evaporate. I used about 5 drops of each.

* Try to bath twice a day and let yourself air dry down there, it's good for your stitches to be as dry as possible to heal. I know this is easier said than done with post partum bleeding but if after your bath you can lie down on a towel on your bed for just 15 minutes it will help.

*Take painkillers, Paracetamol and Ibruprofen are fine to take and both together if needed. Just remember when you take them, I suggest writing it down as my brain definitely turned to mush for a few days and they work best when taken continuously.

* You could try using Sudocrem or another barrier cream such as Weleda Calandula Nappy Change Cream (which you could then use for your baby when you no longer need it). it maybe better to wait until the post partum bleeding stops or eases off. if you're feeling constipated it may also be soothing for your bottom!
Weleda Nappy Cream
Sudocrem

* I was also recommended Arnica tablets, which help with the bruising down there.

* Going for a number 2 definitely helps ease the pressure down there and the first time you go can be scary! Until I went for a number 2 which was actually quite soon after giving birth I felt a lot of painful pressure in my bum! It felt almost like I had given birth from my bottom! As soon as I went that pressure/ pain did ease. If the constipation is bad you can take a laxative but check with your midwife/ doctor or pharmacist first as you don't want to take anything that may effect your baby through your breast milk.

* I didn't try this myself but another recommendation was putting your maternity or sanitary pads in the freezer as the cooling effect helps to soothe.

* Some hospitals provide rubber rings to sit on, so you don't have to put any pressure on your stitches. Mine didn't but I've been told you can also get them from your local NCP centre. I found I was ok once I was sitting it was just the moving around and changing of positions that hurt.

* For the backache and the afterpains (which get worse with each subsequent child) I used feminine heat pads as well as painkillers.

I think that is everything I can think of! Please comment below if you have any tips to share. And remember the pain won't last forever. I would say after one week there was significant improvement but I won't lie that week was awful being so tired and in so much pain all I wanted to do was sleep but I had next to no sleep due to breastfeeding. I can see how for some the pain and tiredness can be too much and bottle feeding means that they can rest and their partners can help with the feeding. I'm really glad I stuck it out though as there are so many benefits to breast feeding.

Here are some photos taken in the last few weeks, looking at your baby always makes the pain more bearable! follow me and my boys on instagram here