The First Time Mum

Sorry folks but I’m going back to the feeding topic… this really is such a big part of having a baby and seems never ending. And the things you continue to learn about yourself, and your baby is also never ending.

We are very fortunate to have a good sleeping and content baby. No idea how it happened, but it has. The main thing that hasn’t gone quite to plan, however, is the breastfeeding. But it turns out, that is also normal. The pumping has worked so well for me and I’m pretty proud of myself to be still pumping for over three months. Although pumping obviously still comes with its challenges.

I have a cupboard full of bottles, teats, storage containers, sanitising gear; you name it, this cupboard would probably take you to Narnia if you tried hard enough. Although I probably should mention that the cupboard is for everything drink related, for Peggy and the adults. So, the whole bottom half is full of alcohol… you never know when you might need it!

This past week Peggy has been unusually grizzly. Initially we put it down to her not feeling too great after her jabs. But then last night we started asking ourselves, what has changed in the last week to 10 days? Why do I have so much spare milk in the fridge? Why is she pooing less? Why is she suddenly screaming the house down when we put her to bed? Turns out, there was a very simple answer to this.

When we left the Oamaru maternity ward, we took home a heap of spare bottles and teats. These teats are supposedly single use. But at the time we had nothing else, and she drank fine from them, so we continued to use them. At around 6 weeks old we tried to transition her on to new bottles and teats. These were Philip Advent. We tried slow and medium flow, but both failed. Even with the pace feeding she would be so sick from the medium flow and with the slow flow she would just stop sucking and then scream if you took the bottle away. This is exactly what she did on the boob. So, we reverted back to the original teats.

A few weeks later we tried some slow and medium flow Medela teats. Exactly the same issue. Again, we reverted back to the originals. I managed to get some more of these from the maternity ward, but I was told these were really only for newborns. Again, who knew? Who knew that there are all these different flow rates? Who knew that there are all these different shapes and sizes? Who knew that the teats are meant to change as your baby gets older? I certainly didn’t!

A midwife suggested I try Dr Brown’s bottles. I bought one to try last week and it seemed to go well. So, we bought a few more and here we are over a week down the line with these.

But last night we had an epiphany. All these changes in her behaviour coincided with the change to new bottles. The reason for all the spare milk, all the tantrums – she was hungry. We switched from the Dr Brown bottle back to the original hospital teats mid feed last night and it was like I had starved her. She drank the whole bottle within minutes. She then proceeded to sleep right through the night again.

Today I am again feeding her through these original teats, and I am so happy to have my normal happy Peggy back. Why had I not noticed this sooner? We still probably need to find a solution for a long-term teat, but for now I am just happy to have my smiley, bubbly baby back.

So, every day is a school day. No one told me any of this. I had to learn it for myself. And it turns out this is quite a common theme with babies. You don’t know what you don’t know, and everyone is so different.

Also, a big shout out to The Milk Room in Oamaru. This is a free service available to mums to help with anything feeding related. A quick message to them on Facebook and they’ve helped me so much with advice for sore boobs and now with bottles. They are available to see in person in the Plunket rooms in Oamaru every second Tuesday. www.facebook.com/themilkroomnorthotago