the basics!with a toddler to factor in too!

[*happy*]

so i BF DD for 8mo&intend on trying to BF
this LO for as long as possible.the thing is,
i cant remember what i did with DD!
she was never a hungry baby so i was
never really doing the typical "demand
feeding",iykwim?she went quite easily to
 a 3hr easy if i remember rightly!i just
cant remember when that happened!
i know i kept a log of feedings,but i can't
find it for the life of me!
i guess im just wondering what the
absolute basics are wrt BFing!
feed as often as necessary for the 1st
few days?when do i aim to start a 3hr easy?

[*happy*]

sorry,posted too soon!
do i wake for feeds if LO happens to be asleep?
sorry for all the questions,but i want to start getting
my head around things!
im here at a hosp check-up&it's suddenly dawning on
me that i'm having a baby!x

[lilac83]

I'm wondering the same thing about waking to feed, especially during the day. At night dd2 goes about 3.5 hours before waking. She usually has 2 feedings each night. During the day though I've been waking her every 2/2.5 hours but then she doesn't seem especially hungry and usually just falls back asleep after 5 minutes. 

[Erin M]

How did you get to be so far along already???

This is really helpful: Breastfeeding and EASY in the first few weeks -- gives some good starting info.  Don't really worry too much about EASY in the first few weeks -- establishing a good milk supply is the most important thing to worry about in those first few weeks.  Generally, I wouldn't let mine go much longer than 3/3.5 hours during the day or they'd make up for it at night.  However, babies being what they are, if you've got a super sleepy LO (ds was one in the beginning) then it's tough to wake them in the beginning!
And ask lots of questions, someone will always answer them around here. 

[*happy*]

thanks hun-i knew there'd be a link somewhere!
will have a proper read when i get some peace&be back then!

[*Ali*]

You will be fine ladies. What Erin said and just relax and let your bubba lead you.

[Proud Mammy]

Same as what the other ladies have already posted.
My little man is a week old this morning and just prior to his arrival I was having the same "what did I do again??!!" panic as you just said. For the first couple of days, I set the alarm for every 2 hours just for fear that he would go longer than that. Otherwise, I fed him as and when he looked for it. My milk came in by day3 and overall, it has been much easier 2nd time round to get things established (even with a 19 month old to try and rein-in and manage at the same time!!!!)
My worries and doubts regarding "am I producing enough milk, is he getting enough?, etc" are not there this time because I know I can just trust that breast feeding works!! Admittedly, I didn't have the worry of Baby being badly jaundiced this time, so there was less of a worry from that score.

Chill and let Baby guide you - and all will be well.
Enjoy the rest do your pregnancy!!!

[*happy*]

wow!how are you finding BFing with a toddler?
that's another little panic that i have every
now &again!

[Proud Mammy]

He's being very good really in making the adjustment to big brother.....when you think of what a mind-warp it must be for him??!
I had gotten a book "the New Baby" and included it in his bedtime stories for about a week before Baby 2 arrived. It had a page in it saying that when the baby is hungry, mummy feeds it with her milk and the illustration for that page is mum breastfeeding. He likes the book and  chooses it as one of his bedtime stories this week too.
We don't have a TV (no time or interest for it) & it might be easier during feeds if we did because Maybe he'd sit and occupy himself in front of that for a while. What he likes to do sometimes when I'm feeding is sit on the chair beside mine and look thru the photos on my iPhone, he brings me books to read, or just plays on the ground in front of me (I feed in his play area of our living area).
Now don't get me wrong - we have had moments where his jealousy/ frustration/ confusion about the change that as happened, have reared their head. I was changing Baby2 the other day and my first son climbed his way into the Moses basket and sat inside in it wrapping the babies blanket around his head!!!! I knew what he was going to do (was watching and was about 2 moves ahead of him in my head already as he was making his move), but I'm just very aware of how young he is and how it's so much for him to have to try and process. I plan on putting Moses basket into the travel cot in the living area if I think it's going to be an issue, but I'm waiting to see how it all pans out - I suppose tis early days yet.

What will the age gap be between yours?
I would think that it would be a little easier if he was just another few months older because he would ave had some vague understanding of what we were trying to prepare him for when we spoke of Baby. He did get a "present" from baby, but again, I don't think he understood that concept either. We didn't think he would but thought that, if nothing else, he'd be happy with a new toy & thankfully, the duplo set was a hit!!! Regardless of why he thinks he got it, or from who!!!....


When people would see me heavily pregnant and with toddler, they make comments of how difficult it would be, how much hard work, etc, etc. but my reply was always the same (thru gritted teeth) "sure, it'll be my new norm & ill just get on with it" and that's what you do, you make the adjustment and it becomes your new life - no more than having to make the adjustment when Baby1 had arrived.
I daren't tell them that in fact we had hoped for an even shorter gap between the two if them.....they'd probably take me away!!! 

[goldmom]

We have a 14.5 month gap, and I think it's great. DS was too small while she was a newborn to make too much trouble, only at 17 months did he discover that he could move the step-stool to the other side of the bassinet pac-n-play to touch the baby while she was sleeping . He also got used to her very quickly, which was nice.

BFing DD has been going well even with DS around. But now that she's more aware of what's going on, she gets very distracted whenever he talks, so it's somewhat frustrating, like "STOP LOOKING AT HIM" lol  . DS did the distracted look around every time DH would talk, but I could tell DH to wait to talk to me till I finished nursing, I can't stop DS from talking...

[*happy*]

We don't have a TV (no time or interest for it) & it might be easier during feeds if we did because Maybe he'd sit and occupy himself in front of that for a while.

yes.....we don't do TV here either...although i may be tempted come october when LO2 arrives!!!!

What will the age gap be between yours?

22 months.....one of my main concerns is how to keep DD's naptime routine...i know i'm going off-topic here but how do you manage it? usually, we go upstairs to her bedroom, change nappy, into grobag, read stories for 10-15 mins, then into the cot & she nods off herself....i worked so hard to establish a routine that works & DD certainly has my personality & LOVES her routines, so i really don't want to change it!!!!but what do i do with the new baby during that 20 min period?!?!!!!!

I daren't tell them that in fact we had hoped for an even shorter gap between the two if them.....they'd probably take me away!!! 

funny you say that....if i hadn't miscarried in Dec, i would be due tomorrow, so i totally get where you're coming from.

DS did the distracted look around

DD was like that too...i fed her mostly upstairs in my bedroom away from the distractions of people passing in & out...it was next to impossible at stages to feed otherwise.

thanks for posting ladies.....so great ot get some feedback from people who are living the situation right now!

[Proud Mammy]

My first son is (like his mum) big into his routine and happiest when it is followed. He still has a 2 hours nap in the middle of the day.
What I do is nappy change downstairs in the living area, give dodi and we climb upstairs together, I pop him straight into his cotbed and he pops off to sleep by himself. I wouldn't even be gone for 5 mins and Baby is fine in Moses basket during that time - as it happens, most days he's been asleep during that time.
Would you consider starting to make some changes now so that not all of the routine has to happen upstairs and, therefore you'd be upstairs for less time putting down for nap time? Maybe you could do nappy and a story downstairs and then head up and change into grobag and pop into cot for sleep? By changing just the nappy change for now and then, when that adjustment is made, you could start doing the the story? That way, you'd only be looking to change one thing in the routine at a time, with a bigger chance of it working out?.... I don't know but maybe it would work? And it would certainly see you up there and away from Baby for less time..... Maybe??

[*happy*]

ya,that's a good idea...i must have a chat to DH(not that
he'll be much help!)+see what way we could tweak it.it
would be no hassle to do nappy downstairs...it would make
sense to tweak now rather than in oct!

[Erin M]

Hun, my first two are just over 20 months apart -- it is a little tricky in the beginning when the newborn is taking long, slow feeds, but it does all work out.  Lots of ladies have success with having a special basket of toys that only comes out when the LO is nursing -- or my dd1 would happily sit and listen to books while dd2  nursed.  The naps will sort themselves out -- you'll probably end up with #2 taking a nap on the run more frequently than you ever would have done with #1, but that works out ok too. 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

We just incorporated DD2 into the nap or bed routine (as in I was holding her or she was laying beside us as we read/did a diaper change/got tucked in). At bedtime it was usually feeding time so i bf and read books to DD1. They are 23 months apart and we never had jealousy issues until they were older!

Will do the same this time around, baby will just tag along with whatever we do. We already talk to her and prod my belly at bedtime to get her moving so she already is part of the routine in a way!

[*happy*]

sorry!!!!i read this during one of my insomnia nights & totally forgot to reply when daylight hit!!!
naps & sleep have both gone all wonky at the moment, so i'm not gonna try & change the routine right now....i think alot will depend on whether or not i manage to BF.....my head is afraid to think about it too much i think!!!

[Fiver]

A lot of BF is psychological so going in with a PMA that you can do it is really important.

And you can!

[*happy*]

im just back from a v v v rare evening out-just to a
friend's house for a cuppa-but funnily enough,that's
almost identical to what she said.
i found it so hard to have that "sole source of
nutrition" badge last time.i need to adapt my attitude
for sure.

[Fiver]

I found it helped to think that my body had been made to produce milk and sustain a baby or more than one.

Glad your friend is saying similar to us

[*happy*]

Glad your friend is saying similar to us

she's a wise lassie!!!