There were no issues at all when he was born, the c section was lovely and calm, he had skin to skin in theatre and other than being cold at birth he was in great condition. He was very sleepy after the birth but I was told to wake him up to feed every 3 hours. He had jaundice until he was 7 weeks old, this was checked by a paediatrician and I was told breast fed babies can have jaundice until 16 weeks.
In the early days Louie was a frequent but very quick feeder, he fed well for a few minutes but then fell asleep at the breast, I put this down to him being a 37 week baby who was sleep and assumed he would ‘wake up’ and be more alert by his official due date. Louie co slept and partially shared my bed from the beginning.
Louie did ‘wake up’ but it soon became apparent he was not a very happy/settled baby, feeding became a nightmare. I have fed 2 other children, exclusively for 6 months and continued up to a year and never have experienced anything like how Louie fed. I became very sore, not bleeding nipples but a terrible burning sensation that lasted throughout the whole feed, I thought I may have thrush but this was never diagnosed and I think I just got used to the feeling. I also put it down to him feeding every hour, day and night (my nipples never had chance to recover!) I never really questioned how often he fed, although I was told to try and push him further on or offer him formula top ups but I didn’t because I’ve always taken the attitude that in much the same way as I don’t feed every 4 hours then neither do babies and again I kept thinking that it was because he was born early and things would improve.
Louie consistently gained weight (I was even told he was obese and I should formula feed him as this would mean I could regulate how much he fed, which is utter rubbish as he was born on the 25th centile and is still on it now) although he never had a big growth spurt as my others have.
Not only was Louie a frequent feeder but he was also a distressed feeder, he would wriggle, squirm, writhe, arch his back and fight me until finally becoming so distressed and hysterical that I had to stop feeding and cuddle him until he calmed down – he was described as a “typical reflux baby”. it was just a case of ‘riding it out’ as unfortunately nothing I or anyone else did could soothe him; after he had calmed down he would feed ok, still wriggly and almost uncomfortable but he would take some milk.
Afterwards he would be sick, (I had to have a bath towel to cover him and me) and full of wind. At 7 months the most he had ever slept on a night is 3 hours and this was very rare. Throughout the night we had to cope with several screaming fits and again had to ride these out by cuddling him and swaddling him. Louie spent much of the day crying and was very rarely content. We tried a sling, Cranial Osteopathy, tilted mattress, infant gaviscon etc but nothing worked.
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