u/kitty_catcat1999

I have extreme rage right now.

It’s the third night on the trot I’ve had no sleep with my 6 week old colicky baby. Partner went to work last week, works in a small office.

He has been getting 6-7 hours straight of sleep, will be snoring next to me, if he does get disturbed he goes straight back to sleep. Yet coming home and complaining how tired he is.

I snapped and said it’s irritating to hear when I feel like I have the flu I’m so sleep deprived. He then said it’s not a competition, he’s at work not relaxing and he’s tired too.

I waited all day for him to come back from work so I could nap as I felt physically unwell, I slept from 6-8pm before I woke up to him snapping at the baby to stop crying.

It’s currently 4am, and I forced him awake because I couldn’t cope with the screaming and being so tired. His solution was to put the screaming baby in between us in bed to calm him down. His attempts to help me at night and in the morning are so half assed I just end up doing it myself.

I’m just infuriated. I’m covered in sweat and breast milk. I have heat rash all over my neck and chest from baby sleeping on me in the heat. My back is in pain still from my epidural. My boobs are leaking all over the bed because I’ve run out of breast pads. But he’s tired too.

I have extreme rage right now.

It’s the third night on the trot I’ve had no sleep with my 6 week old colicky baby. Partner went back to work last week, works in a small office.

He has been getting 6-7 hours straight of sleep, will be snoring next to me, if he does get disturbed he goes straight back to sleep. Yet coming home and complaining how tired he is.

I snapped and said it’s irritating to hear when I feel like I have the flu I’m so sleep deprived. He then said it’s not a competition and he’s tired too.

It’s currently 4am, and I forced him awake because I couldn’t cope with the screaming and being so tired. His solution was to put the baby in between us in bed to calm him down.

I’m just infuriated. I’m covered in sweat and breast milk. I have heat rash all over my neck and chest from baby sleeping on me in the heat. My back is in pain still from my epidural. My boobs are leaking all over the bed because I’ve run out of breast pads. But he’s tired too.

Hiya all,

I’m a FTM and 3 weeks PP so this may seem silly.

I have the Tommee Tippee steam steriliser. Between bottles, dummies and my breast pump, I’m running 2-3 cycles a day as it all doesn’t fit, so I can’t just leave things in the steriliser until I need them.

The breast pump parts must be dry before assembly, and I’ve just been taking whatever is sterilised and letting it air dry on top of my fridge with a paper towel until it’s ready to be used that day. (only place my cats don’t jump to, I antibacterial the surface daily)

I’ve read that I should be assembling bottles before letting them air dry, which I haven’t been doing and now I’m worried.

How do you all keep things sterile when there’s no space to just keep in the steriliser? I’ve heard some people put things in the fridge?

Advice would be great. Thank you!

Hi all,

I’m 3 weeks postpartum, and could not decide on baby’s name when he was born. We narrowed it down to two we liked, but couldn’t choose even when he was here.

Everyone kept saying when you see him you’ll know but I really didn’t get that click. Maybe it was because I had an emergency section?

We decided on one once we were home, but it feels weird others calling him it.

At home he’s bubba or baby so not sure if that’s why. I’ve not actually called him by his name many times.

But I also feel like this about any name for him. I’m finding it hard?

Did it anyone else have this or am I being silly?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I have been EBF since baby was born on the 13th, and have introduced formula as of today alongside breastfeeding. Baby has regained birth weight and it’s going well.

This was always the intention as I am recovering from cancer, and soon will need to start having regular scans and maintenance again which will mean someone else will have to watch and feed baby for me.

My milk only lets down when baby cries or feeds, so I’ve found pumping really hard the last few weeks and not had much output.

My ideal situation would be to breastfeed on demand when possible, but if I’m busy or tired, Dad can give some formula. I don’t want anything too rigid.

With that in mind, my baby is always very gassy and I don’t want to worsen this.

On a day where I have a PET scan, I was hoping I’d be able to do majority formula feeds if pumping still isn’t going well.

My questions are, what routine do I actually follow? Do I need one? Do I need to pump when baby has a formula feed?

Any advice or insight?

Hi all,

I have been EBF since baby was born on the 13th, and have introduced formula as of today alongside breastfeeding.

This was always the intention as I am recovering from cancer, and soon will need to start having regular scans and maintenance again which will mean someone else will have to watch and feed baby for me.

My milk only lets down when baby cries or feeds, so I’ve found pumping really hard the last few weeks and not had much output.

My ideal situation would be to breastfeed on demand when possible, but if I’m busy or tired, Dad can give some formula. I don’t want anything too rigid.

With that in mind, my baby is always very gassy and I don’t want to worsen this.

On a day where I have a PET scan, I was hoping I’d be able to do majority formula feeds if pumping still isn’t going well.

My questions are, what routine do I actually follow? Do I need one? Do I need to pump when baby has a formula feed?

Any advice or insight?

Hi all,

I had my baby three weeks ago! He’s got really bad problems with gas, difficult to burp and will go bright red screaming and writhing while we try to help him.

He isn’t constipated however.

We’ve switched to Aptamil comfort, however I didn’t actually seek medical approval before starting? He also hasn’t been formally diagnosed with colic so I don’t know if I’ve done something wrong?

I just thought best to give it a go as he’s had so much trapped wind.

Is this ok? Are there any downsides to using comfort milk if he didn’t need it?

Hi all,

I’m two weeks postpartum and crying holding my newborn as I write this

I had a rare and aggressive T-cell lymphoma that has relapsed twice, and didn’t respond well to transplant. I still need more donor treatment.

Fell pregnant unexpectedly a year after my previous relapse, and prior to this I kind of accepted I’d probably relapse again and not live the longest life.

Now my baby is here and every night I hold them, I love him so much and it breaks my heart that I have this lingering.

I live each day like a normal mum then remember I have this dark medical history hanging over me and I feel sick.

I don’t want to have to put this innocent baby in cancer world or to go through losing me.

I don’t know why I’m ranting but just needing an outlet. I don’t want to tell family I’m feeling this way and panic them.

Thank you

Hi all,

I’m two weeks postpartum and crying holding my newborn as I write this

I had a rare and aggressive T-cell lymphoma that has relapsed twice, and didn’t respond well to transplant. I still need more donor treatment.

Fell pregnant unexpectedly a year after my previous relapse, and prior to this I kind of accepted I’d probably relapse again and not live the longest life.

Now my baby is here and every night I hold them, I love him so much and it breaks my heart that I have this lingering.

I live each day like a normal mum then remember I have this dark medical history hanging over me and I feel sick.

I don’t want to have to put this innocent baby in cancer world or to go through losing me.

I don’t know why I’m ranting but just needing an outlet. I don’t want to tell family I’m feeling this way and panic them.

Thank you

Hi all,

Really proud of myself as I’ve tried all week to collect colostrum and today found the best method was just collecting it drop by drop directly when hand expressing.

This is fiddly and I accidentally touched the open tip of the syringe when doing this. I also had to put the syringe against the actual skin of my nipple to scrape some drops.

The top of the syringe has also formed a bit of a colostrum crust.

Do I keep it? Is this still sterile and safe?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

Wanted some advice re colostrum collection. Baby is being delivered at 37 weeks due to various complications I won’t go into in this post.

Midwife gave me the okay to start today (I’m 36 weeks) to collect colostrum. I’ve had leaking in my bra so figured it wouldn’t be too difficult.

I’ve barely managed more than 5 drops. I also can not figure out hand expression at all. I’ve been sat all afternoon trying to figure it out.

I got 5 drops out with the help of a silicone Haaka but I don’t even think I used that properly?

Did anyone else find this difficult? I feel stupid as I’m literally watching videos and reading instructions and still not getting the hang of it.

Do I cool off and try again tomorrow?

Hi all,

Due to some ongoing separate health issues and not being able to get my GD under control my C section has been booked for 36+6 weeks.

Has anyone else had babies at this gestation? Trying not to overthink.

Thank you!

Hi all,

Late night thoughts and reflecting on my recent hospital stay that’s made me quite paranoid.

I was inpatient last week on the maternity ward due to having an infection that needed IV antibiotics.

A midwife came round one morning and attempted to take bloods from the crease in my forearm. She couldn’t find a vein, so completely removed the needle, then with the same needle stuck it into my hand. Same arm, but completely different locations.

There is a lady who raises a lot of awareness online about a similar event happening to her that actually caused sepsis and paralysis in that arm, so I was quite shocked when it happened to me.

The midwife in charge came round later that evening during handover. I let her know what had happened earlier.

Not sure if she was covering on the spot but she said ‘it’s fine to reuse the needle if you haven’t been able to hit the vein’

I emphasised the needle had left the skin on the top of my arm, and the next location tried was my hand with the same one.

She said she would have a word but I’m not sure.

Is this normal? It’s made me paranoid for birth in a few weeks if this is the norm. I’ve always been under the impression that this was unsanitary and once the needle leaves the skin, a new needle is required?

Hi all,

I’m a bit stumped really.

I was admitted into hospital for an infection two weeks ago. My heart rate was 140 and now resting it’s 110-120.

They did an echo but my heart rate was 140 for this, therefore they are going to repeat it but this took me very much pushing.

My BNP came back as 700mg. I’m quite concerned about this but no one else is?

An anaesthetist casually suggested I may have HFpeF that wasn’t picked up on the echo due to my high heart rate, and also due to my history with chemotherapy.

Does anyone have any insight as to whether I should be concerned? Anyone who has had heart problems following chemo or pregnancy?

Hi all,

Rant incoming.

My parents have been separated since I was 2, I’m very close to my mum and mums side naturally and not so much my dad’s due to his alcoholism and lack of effort. I am close to his mum however (my grandmother)

I told all family members from day 1 of pregnancy that I do not want a baby shower. Aside from the thought of family politics stressing me out, I just simply didn’t like the idea of having one and felt more anxiety about it than anything, so it was a no.

My dad’s side expressed wanting to see me before baby is born, and I tend to visit every couple of months anyway so would’ve seen them anyway.

We organise this. I then get an invitation sent to me from my aunt, inviting me to my own baby celebration. This took me aback and I was annoyed, however she is quite creative and I figured she just wanted to make a cute invitation for what was just a small gathering anyway like we would do every couple of months (Nan, Dad, Aunt and cousin). I let it go.

I get a text today from my second cousin saying she can’t wait to see me at the baby shower. She also says she will be bringing her new partner. I call my Nan and ask what is going on as I did not know this was a wider family event and feel blindsided.

There’s going to be decorations and catering also.

Apparently the invite got sent to all of the family on that side, but it’s fine because ‘some of them can’t make it’ so it’ll still be relatively small.

I am extremely annoyed about all of this. I feel like they’re doing this for them and I’ve been disregarded. I’m also upset that they’ve not even considered asking me if I’d like to bring my mum, or anyone for that matter considering it’s apparently FOR ME?

Yet my cousin is bringing someone I’ve never even met.

I’m 34 weeks pregnant with a huge baby, I have GD, I just got out of hospital last week for sepsis, I’m angry and hormonal. I’m really not happy.

Am I being unreasonable? What would you do or say about this?

Thinking to just bite my tongue and go along with it but equally I don’t want people to think this is acceptable.

Hi all,

I’ve had my two female British short hairs for a year now. They’re rescues and I just kept them on what they enjoyed at their foster home, which was Whiskas in gravy.

I switch it up for them occasionally and get different flavours etc. They also have IAms dry food.

We’ve tried Sheba and Lily’s Kitchen before but they always seem to eat better with Whiskas.

A video of a girl feeding her cat came up on my Tik Tok, the comments (hundreds) were absolutely ripping this girl apart for feeding her cat Whiskas? People saying she doesn’t deserve her cat and its neglect?

I’ve never heard of this and now I’m panicking.

Has anyone got any cat food recommendations or insight into this?

Thanks!

I’m 33 weeks, and I’m bored, irritated, uncomfortable and just depressed.

Everyone around me is going off to work and still living normally and I’m just sat at home waiting for this baby now.

Baby is on the 99th percentile, I have pre-existing health problems anyway, I’ve developed a heart condition, I can barely walk he’s so heavy on my pelvis, I feel sick, the list continues.

I’m bored but can’t bring myself to watch a series, sort anything around the house, I’m tired but not tired at the same time, I constantly feel like I’m vibrating with hormones if that even makes sense???

Massive moan I know but I’m just utterly miserable. I’ve felt a massive emotional shift the last week.

Anyone else?

Hi all,

I’m really struggling and have no patience at the moment. My baby is on the 99th percentile and I’m in a lot of pain, I just got back from a hospital admission due to sepsis, and I’m just at the end of my tether.

Second trimester I felt really in love and happy with my partner, this last two weeks I can’t stand him.

We’ve come home from the hospital yesterday and he ran me a bath, then went to watch the football. We had no bedsheets on the bed, stuff was everywhere, I would’ve just liked him to take some initiative to actually sort things out?

When I said this he said I don’t realise how much he’s done all week while I’ve been in hospital. He’s gone to work, fed the cats, come to the hospital, and home again. Maybe I’m being horrible but that’s just the bare minimum.

He made dinner, but then left everything cluttered behind. I asked him to do this and he said he will do it later.

He then put bedsheets on after I asked. He’s put the pillow cases on inside out and not buttoned up the duvet cover.

When I got in a mood with him and then explained why he said he’s also tired from working all week and then coming straight to the hospital.

I don’t understand what’s tiring about sitting on a chair next to me for two hours an evening but whatever.

I know people will say it’s weaponised incompetence but I don’t even clean up after him, I will just have a go at him and make him do it properly. So what is the point?

After bickering I said clearly my expectations of him are too high (sarcastic) and he said I was extremely rude.

He’s now conveniently feeling unwell today also.

I feel like he’s trying to battle me on everything with no consideration that I’m heavily pregnant.

Did anyone else struggle like this?

Hi all,

First time mum recovering from having cancer last year. This baby came after I was told I was infertile so he’s a little miracle!

I’m 31 weeks and do intend to breastfeed. My cancer team have told me that I won’t be able to start my maintenance treatment and have scans again until I’m ready to stop breastfeeding.

We agreed on 8-12 weeks of breastfeeding before I’ll switch to formula. I’m disheartened but as long as baby is happy and healthy, I’m okay with however he is fed.

If I’m only planning on feeding for this length of time before moving to formula, do I need to purchase an electric breast pump?

Thank you!