How has 10 weeks passed since I gave birth!! I thought I would do a blog post each week, how naive I was. I totally forgot how demanding a newborn is!!
All they do is eat, sleep, pee and poop, but you forget the mental haze from no sleep!! So here is a very quick recap of last 10 weeks.
Just like Isobel, Aisling would not latch properly to my boob so I had to use nipple shields from the first feed, at least I knew this time round and due to my business I had plenty of stock.
I spent almost the first two weeks in bed as planned to recover and only rose for meals, toilet and the odd visitor. Of course I got mastitis in the first week so the staying in bed plan was needed. Anyway it wasn’t as bad as I had it with Isobel and using a hot water bottle on affected breast really helped ease the blockage and the pain!
By week 3, I was thinking Aisling had reflux and she was throwing up a lot, would not sleep on her back and was always hicupping. Oh and then I got mastitis again!! No antibiotics needed this time round, Epsom salts bath and the hot water bottle worked wonders.
By week 4 we started getting out and about and I did my first park walk, it was lovely, still feeding round the clock, but I was getting longer breaks.
At 1 month old I had planned a weekend away for my hubbies 40th birthday, it surprisingly went OK, but I was exhausted after it!
By week 5 I took Aisling to a cranio specialist to help with reflux, we saw an improvement within 3 days and she was definitely a happier baby. We only needed one session and it worked. The therapist details are on Facebook if anyone needs the same in Co.Clare area, her name is Maria Miniter (this is not an ad!)
By week 7 sleep night sleeping was starting to stretch and Aisling was getting 4 hrs at a time, and seemed to be following a routine!!
Week 8, no more nipple shields, woohoo, well done Aisling. She seemed to be suckling the shield off at each feed so I thought she was ready to feed without them and slowly over 2 days, they were gone for every feed and we haven’t used them since!
Week 9, slowly starting to wean Aisling out of my bed and into the cot, she is now only waking twice at night and doing a big stretch between 8pm and 1am most nights, hence I now have sleep and can blog with a clear mind
What a rollercoaster it has been but Aisling is a dream baby and so settled in general. She is so much easier to get to sleep compared to Isobel so maybe that’s why I find this time round easier! Isobel has been so good to her and is very caring. She likes to help at every nappy change, and will run to get extra nappies if I’ve run out . The only few times she has been jealous is at bedtime when I am usually feeding Aisling. I had to explain to her that daddy had no milk in his boobies so mommy has to feed Aisling. Once she understood this, she accepted her dad doing her bedtime. She has a little snuggle with me and the baby before she goes to bed and now seems content with that.
So tonight we had both kids asleep by 8pm, I wonder how long that will last!
Nipple Shields I used:
