Ouch!

For the past few days I've been having increasingly bad muscular pain in my back, shoulders, down my arms and even my knees! I'm walking around like an old woman and am really struggling to lift Jamie. This morning I really struggled to get out of bed and walk. I have a feeling it might be some kind of repetitive strain thing from holding him for ages while he breastfeeds. Not sure why it would affect my knees though unless I'm tensing them and holding them in the same position for ages...

Breastfeeding...

I've found it really hard but I think things are starting to improve now. Jamie's feeds seem to be spacing out slightly more, and I'm getting into more of a routine with his daytime naps which also helps.

I'm starving all the time at the moment, and craving total junk. I've devoured so much chocolate this week. I've been trying to put a bowl of fruit near me to pick at when i'm feeding. I also get SO thirsty when I'm feeding - I have to make sure i've got a glass of water next to me at all times!

We tried Jamie in his bouncy chair again today and he got on a lot better than last time. He didn't slump down as much and took an interest in the toy bar. He lasted about 15 mins before he'd had enough and started screaming!

Feeling a bit zzzzzzz at the moment...we had about a week or so of Jamie sleeping from 10.30pm-5am, but he's started waking at around 3am again now! I don't mind too much if it's just that once, but it's hard when he then wakes up around 6am. If he'd just last until 7, that'd be fine!

Well today, Wayne and I went for a walk into town and then went to wetherspoons for a drink, and I breastfed in there! I was chuffed with myself for being brave enough to do it. We managed to find a quiet corner and it was fine, until I realised that there was a window behind me looking out onto the smoking area! I don't think anyone would have noticed what I was doing though!

Father's Day

Well today was Wayne's first Father's Day! Jamie sent him a card with a pic of him on the front. We went out for Sunday lunch, and after he'd been fed he just would not drop off. His eyes were almost closed and he was almost asleep and then, bam! - eyes open again. I think he gets overtired and then finds it hard to drop off. And maybe it was a bit too noisy and busy in the pub. In the end I took him for a walk in the beer garden and I think the bright light made him close his eyes properly, and within seconds he was asleep on me!

Swaddling works well for us at night, and I have tried it in the day too, but ideally I'd like Jamie to be able to nap in the day without being swaddled. I've read the Gina Ford book and did try and get him to sleep at the times she says, but he won't play ball at the moment! He feeds more often in the day than he should according to her routine, so I think I'll wait til he's a bit older and going longer between feeds before trying it again. It was stressing me out too much trying to get him to feed and sleep according to the clock!

Jamie is doing well, he put on 5oz last week which has allayed my fears that he wasn't getting enough milk from me. Just hope he's gained more when he's weighed on Monday. Breastfeeding is slowly getting a bit easier (although I have to say it's harder than I expected). My nipples are still a bit sore - they don't seem to get much chance to heal between feeds. I'm still using nipple shields which help a bit and it only really hurts for the first 15 secs or so when he latches on.

We're really lucky as Jamie usually goes from about 10.30pm, when he has a bottle of expressed milk, til around 4-5am. He often doesn't settle too well after that though and tends to be awake til about 7am. His feeding is very erratic in the day still - he seems to cluster feed, so he'll feed on and off for a couple of hours with not much break. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to when he does this either, which makes trips out more difficult. He's not too keen on napping either and I've been swaddling him in the day as well as at night to try and get him to sleep for longer. He seems to fight sleep and a lot of the time I resort to rocking him to sleep.

I'm trying to get out for a walk somewhere with him in the afternoon, to avoid the groundhog day feeling. Today though, we are off to my mum's for lunch. My gran is staying with her at the moment so Jamie will get to spend some time with his great-grandma!

Jamie is feeding non-stop all afternoon and evening. I got him to sleep for an hour and a half between 4.30 and 6 but otherwise he's been clamped to my boob on and off since 12 with not much break in between. My bum is numb from all the time sat on the sofa and I feel bad about having done no housework or evening meal preparation!! Luckily Wayne is being really supportive about it.

I've tried holding him and rocking him to sleep but once I put him down he wakes back up. We have had some success with the dummy, but it doesn't always work. I find I have to try and get him to take it before he gets really grumpy and is crying, otherwise he spits it back out. Sometimes taking him out in the pram or car works, but other times it doesn't! Yesterday we walked to town to take him to be registered. He cried the whole way there and wouldn't take the dummy. The day before, at a very similar time, he'd slept for 2 hours while we were out with him in the pram! Once we got to the register office, Wayne picked him up, rocked him and he fell asleep for the next 3 hours!!

Anyway, he now exists as a proper, real person - James Thomas Meade :)

I'm letting him feed whenever he wants in the day but it's very restrictive in terms of planning anything or going out. But I guess that's life with a newborn!

The really good thing is that he generally sleeps from 7pm-ish til around 10, and then we give him a bottle of expressed milk. For the last few nights he's then gone from 10.30ish til about 2.30-3am, and then til 6.30ish. I know I'm lucky to get longer stretches in the night and I hope it lasts!!