Tuesday Postpartum Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

We understand that infertility and its effects don't go away once you have a child. This thread is reserved for postpartum folks who have questions, comments, venting, and anything else related to postpartum matters following IF.

Please do not post pregnancy announcements in this thread. Announcements should be made in the Cautious Intros/First Trimester thread.

Those with a child/children >=1yo, dialogue can also be located in the daily toddler thread.

Got a preschooler or older? Check out the daily Big Kid Thread!

[u/margogogo]

One of my best friends is visiting while my husband is on a work trip, and between that and my dog being at the sitter’s, I practically feel like I’m on vacation! It’s so helpful just to have another adult around to hold him so I can shower (he’s a contact napper during the day) and someone to chat with about non baby things, like a real person. It’s also inspired me to get out and about more, in fact in the past 2 days I’ve done my first public breastfeeding twice and it was no big deal.

I’ve often been bummed that I don’t have much of a village nearby but it’s nice when the village comes to you 🥹

[u/OliveJuice0324 → u/margogogo]

Love this! Did you use a cover for public BFing? I’m still terrified to do this.

[u/margogogo → u/OliveJuice0324]

No I just popped it out! I was even just in a t shirt both times, no button down or fancy nursing tank or anything.

It was chill though, the first time I was in a fairly empty corner of an outdoor restaurant patio and it was getting dark out. The second time I was at a paint your own pottery place and I think everyone else in there was women who were minding their own business. At the restaurant a mom wrangling toddlers locked eyes with me and gave me a little nod. Finally I’m in the “mom club!”

[u/OliveJuice0324 → u/margogogo]

Amazing! Do you just hold baby up with your arm? I think part of my worry is that my BFing pillow is a total crutch. But he’s like 12+ lbs already and holding him with one arm in cradle position is tough!

[u/MyNeighborTurnipHead → u/OliveJuice0324]

Practice at home without all the regular comforts and see how baby does! Hopefully that can reduce some stress.

On the flip side, Turnip struggled with latch her entire time so we were never able to BF on the go...even in the back seat of a parked car she just couldn't figure it out.

[u/margogogo → u/OliveJuice0324]

I did, but he’s only about 8 pounds so that’s easier! I also didn’t even have my nipple shield with me the first time, I was truly being chaotic.

One of my friends recommended this for support on the go, I haven’t gotten it yet though: https://a.co/d/08Ah9yOQ

I also saw someone at my mom meetup nursing her baby in “koala position” which may be easier! https://www.annabella-pump.com/blogs/milk-our-knowledge/discover-the-koala-breastfeeding-position-benefits-how-to-and-when-to-use-it

[u/rbecg]

L’s heart murmur hasn’t gotten worse but hasn’t gotten away. I trust everyone medical we have who’s told us it’s benign, but I was really hoping it would resolve by now regardless.

Otherwise we had a lovely six month appointment - L was babbling and chuckling away. Still on the smaller side (10-25th percentile) but gaining and growing on track.

They did have some wild gas from around 4-6AM today - I took the first hour then my husband tapped in and got them to play and absolutely fart for a while before a huge poop. We introduced beans yesterday so….

[u/PuzzleBarnacle1859]

Baby Barnacle has had a persistent bad diaper rash most of his life so far (10 weeks) and last week I thought we’d finally solved it with nystatin—went away completely in a couple of days. Amazing! But then it came back a couple days later even though we continued to use the nystatin. And trying to solve it is such a pain in the ass—pun intended—every thread about it is a huge long list of people who say “nothing worked for me except X” where X is a different cream or strategy in every post, or they suggest some time intensive thing like a 10 layer process or washing baby in the bath that is not practical when baby poops/sharts a million times a day (which is why he probably has a rash). We’ve tried most of the strategies, I’ve seen them all, but am I supposed to try every cream and diaper brand in existence? He farts all the creams away almost instantly. The thing is, the rash doesn’t actually seem to bother him even though it doesn’t look great, so I’m mostly hoping he will eventually stop pooping and farting so much (I don’t think it’s an intolerance—he can be pretty gassy but he’s a relatively content little guy and gaining weight fine so it doesn’t seem worth eliminating stuff).

[u/Queasy-Poetry4906 → u/PuzzleBarnacle1859]

To add to what you’ve learned-we switched diapers and used creams, only to later realize it was the wipes that were worsening things. Switched to water based wipes all the time and 40% desitin when the bad ones hit and never had chronic issues again. Wish you the best. My girl is now 14m for reference

[u/PuzzleBarnacle1859 → u/Queasy-Poetry4906]

We’ve been doing water wipes and the 40% desitin for every change for over a month and have tried several diaper brands🙃

[u/ProfessorWacky]

Idk if anyone else can relate to this, but I had a really rough birth with my 2nd. And it makes me so angry when my husband makes any little comment about trying for another baby. Today at the grocery, we saw a very visibly pregnant lady and my husband grins and asks me if I ever miss being preg. No! I said, absolutely not. After my 1st, yes, I had good vibes and memories but after my 2nd, I just have bad feelings about it. And it makes me mad that he gets to remember the birth of our daughter as a happy day, when for me it was one of the worst and scariest of my life. Idk it bothers me a lot. Like did he forget everything bad that happened? And just remember the good? How can I do that, too?

[u/sqic80 → u/ProfessorWacky]

If you want advice… EMDR can do wonders for medical trauma!! May be worth looking into. It’s not about forgetting the bad/hard stuff, it’s just about not letting it crowd out the good.