So you've ruined your life...

My baby boy arrived at 2am on 3rd January.

Isn't labour an intense experience?! I tried to be as useful as I could, but Mummy was fantastic.

I love the little guy so much already. My favourite thing has to be having him propped up to my shoulder for winding, hearing his little noises in my ear. Feeding is going well. Not quite to the recommended amounts, but on a noticeable upwards curve.

The main downside is sleep deprivation, though I am lucky to get great paternity leave, so Mummy and I can share duties in the months ahead.

Sprouty wrote:My baby boy arrived at 2am on 3rd January.

Isn't labour an intense experience?! I tried to be as useful as I could, but Mummy was fantastic.

I love the little guy so much already. My favourite thing has to be having him propped up to my shoulder for winding, hearing his little noises in my ear. Feeding is going well. Not quite to the recommended amounts, but on a noticeable upwards curve.

The main downside is sleep deprivation, though I am lucky to get great paternity leave, so Mummy and I can share duties in the months ahead.

Congrats

Treasure the moments when they are so little, it doesn't last long.

Sprouty wrote:My baby boy arrived at 2am on 3rd January...

Fantastic stuff, Sprouty! All the best to you and Family Sprout!

Sprouty wrote:My baby boy arrived at 2am on 3rd January.

Welcome to the club, it's a wild ride. A couple of things I recommend that I certainly haven't seen pop up on the usual new parent advice lists are

1) get lots of cushions and pillows of different sizes and densities; you will need something to go under your arms while they sleep on you so you're comfortable.

2) get a phone charger for every chair. Once you're ensconced with a child anything more than a couple of feet away may as well be on the moon in terms of accessibility.

3) hydration. It can be hard in the whirlwind of all the new things but remind yourself and each other to drink water regularly.

Sprouty wrote:My baby boy arrived at 2am on 3rd January.

Lovely.

Congrats Sprouty!

I'd forgotten about this thread!

Baby BTB arrived 18th Dec. Due date was the 27th so nice of him to come with a bit of a gap before Christmas! He's a good lad

First couple of weeks have been quite hectic with Christmas etc but all going pretty well. He's putting on weight and feeding well, had his tongue tie cut yesterday and seems OK since.

Birth was mostly straightforward. The hospital had a birth centre so we essentially had our own room and I could stay there after the birth until we went home which was great! Positive for Strep B which we didn't find out until a while after but no signs of it after 24hrs so seems to be all good.

Probably wouldn't say the "birth was mostly straightforward" infront of your wife

Congratulations though!

Thanks all, and congrats BTB!

Does anyone have any advice on sleeping arrangements with a newborn?

As his weight loss is very minimal (after 5 days), we've been told we can move from 3 hourly feeds to 4 hourly. However, he sets the time for feeds and typically wants feeding every 2 hours.

We've tried shifts so that one of us is awake at all times, but Mrs Sprout gets lonely over night when I'm sleeping and would like to sleep at the same time so we get to see each other more during the day.

I'd like to establish larger feeds before bed time to limit night time feeds, but I suspect his little stomach is too small to establish that rule just yet. Any ideas welcome as I've been running on 1 to 5 hours sleep per day since 1st January.

Sprouty wrote:Thanks all, and congrats BTB!

Does anyone have any advice on sleeping arrangements with a newborn?

As his weight loss is very minimal (after 5 days), we've been told we can move from 3 hourly feeds to 4 hourly. However, he sets the time for feeds and typically wants feeding every 2 hours.

We've tried shifts so that one of us is awake at all times, but Mrs Sprout gets lonely over night when I'm sleeping and would like to sleep at the same time so we get to see each other more during the day.

I'd like to establish larger feeds before bed time to limit night time feeds, but I suspect his little stomach is too small to establish that rule just yet. Any ideas welcome as I've been running on 1 to 5 hours sleep per day since 1st January.

My advice after two traumatic births and difficult newborns - roll with it and get through each day until you’re not existing, you’re living.

If he wants 2 hour feeds, do it. If he wants to sleep, let him.

Roll with it - quicker you do, easier it becomes.

(I had 3 years on 1-5 hours sleep with first one and the second was born. You get used to it.)

Songwriter wrote:

Sprouty wrote:Thanks all, and congrats BTB!

Does anyone have any advice on sleeping arrangements with a newborn?

As his weight loss is very minimal (after 5 days), we've been told we can move from 3 hourly feeds to 4 hourly. However, he sets the time for feeds and typically wants feeding every 2 hours.

We've tried shifts so that one of us is awake at all times, but Mrs Sprout gets lonely over night when I'm sleeping and would like to sleep at the same time so we get to see each other more during the day.

I'd like to establish larger feeds before bed time to limit night time feeds, but I suspect his little stomach is too small to establish that rule just yet. Any ideas welcome as I've been running on 1 to 5 hours sleep per day since 1st January.

My advice after two traumatic births and difficult newborns - roll with it and get through each day until you’re not existing, you’re living.

If he wants 2 hour feeds, do it. If he wants to sleep, let him.

Roll with it - quicker you do, easier it becomes.

(I had 3 years on 1-5 hours sleep with first one and the second was born. You get used to it.)

This. Every kid is different, and a schedule set by a midwife or other professional, however evidence based, can only ever be a guide. When my boy was a newborn, he was struggling to gain weight, and we were told to feed every 2 hours, but given that waking him, feeding, changing, then getting him back to sleep took about an hour, it meant he was only getting one hour of sleep before the next feed was due, and after a couple of those, we literally couldn't wake him, he needed sleep. We switched to 3 hours, and that worked for him. As for sleeping arrangements, we were fortunate enough to be able to set up a bed in the spare room and basically took the night in 3 hour shifts between my wife and I, so the other could go and get 3 hours kip while the other did the feed, etc. I know it doesn't help with the loneliness Mrs Sprout is talking about. It's a tricky balance, you obviously want to spend time together, but it's also only possible for you to support each other with catching up on sleep if one of you is staying awake to look after the little one.

Thanks for the advice.

We tried to 3 hourly feeds in the night (the midwife recommended 4 hourly), but truth is, he demands a feed every two hours.

I gave him a big feed just before 10pm, with Mrs Sprout on hand from when we went to bed shortly after to 4am slot, then I took over for the rest. She got out of bed at 10am this morning, so it was a huge improvement on sleep, especially for her (and lets be honest, her body needs it more to recover from labour).

A huge improvement for us!

For my son we fed him whenever he wanted it, we tried not to worry too much about what the books and websites said.

I remember his weight dropped quite a bit when he came home and the health worker told us to use formula milk as well as the boob. It worked out ok.

Taking night time in shifts, before and after 4am was going really well. The last two nights, he's pretty much wanted constant feeding from around 10pm to 4pm. I guess I shouldn't complain at 4 to 5 hours, but we had it so good for a night or two!