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Soldato
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I took the meaning a different way; irritation with the dogmatic "breast is best" message. And I can sympathise with that. The facts aren't really being presented in an even way, at least from what I've seen these past few weeks. The information is given in a loaded way, to try and coerce people toward breast feeding. And if that doesn't work, more pressure is applied.

It's like the decision on how to feed your child was taken while you were out of the room, and the staff now have the task of convincing you they made the right decision.

To give a brief example, we were told all of the upsides of breast feeding on multiple occasions. Most of them were true. Some were questionable. I asked about some of the downsides, which were promptly dismissed. Those included jaundice, and the potential for high weight loss if the milk doesn't come through soon enough or in a large enough quantity. These downsides were played down. Yet now our daughter has jaundice and has lost a chunk of her birth weight, we're told it's quite normal for breast fed babies, and that we shouldn't worry.

Even as someone in favour of breast feeding, I hate discussing it. There's too many utter looneys about. And most advocates will not present a realistic picture. They're not trying to help people make an informed decision; they're trying to sell an idea.

Finally someone that gets it and has experienced what we saw in the hospital. It felt like talking to a religious nut for me. No amount of discussion sways them. Especially when the baby is poorly and loosing weight the important task is to get nutrition into them.
On top of everything else it was heart braking seeing my wife cry because she felt like she couldn't provide what these people were telling her was her only role right now. Being told you need to sleep, eat better drink more, get some exercise was really not helpful when your watching your child nearly die. It was like they blanked everything except the breast is best message.
Hand a leaflet to the parents ask if you have any questions then leave us alone. It was so much better when they finally left us and a dietitian took over.

In other news, George has started having some water from a cup, he seems to like lemon.
Not eating very well at the minute though, few of his back teeth are coming through. Though he liked the butternut squash, carrot and Cumin soup i made.
He had done rump steak and green beans last night but wouldn't have any potato.
Resort to yoghurt with rice powder and sugar mixed in. All this sugar free stuff is not making it easy for us we have to add it to everything.
 
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Soldato
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Well, the twins turned up yesterday and it's not quite chaos yet!
Can't say I could be any prouder of my wife and her efforts. It was really tough on her, and I'm hoping she continues to recover quickly.
The twins have had some ups and downs, and some time in Special Care, but they came in at 6lb1 and 7lb1, so a good size.

On the breastfeeding front, my wife is determined, but the children have not responded well just yet so they are getting fed formula via feeding tubes for now, just enough to keep them well-fed, with a bit spare to try and get them to push for more from the breast. We'll see how it works.
 
Don
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Well, the twins turned up yesterday and it's not quite chaos yet!
Can't say I could be any prouder of my wife and her efforts. It was really tough on her, and I'm hoping she continues to recover quickly.
The twins have had some ups and downs, and some time in Special Care, but they came in at 6lb1 and 7lb1, so a good size.

On the breastfeeding front, my wife is determined, but the children have not responded well just yet so they are getting fed formula via feeding tubes for now, just enough to keep them well-fed, with a bit spare to try and get them to push for more from the breast. We'll see how it works.

Congratulations!
 
Caporegime
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Well, the twins turned up yesterday and it's not quite chaos yet!
Can't say I could be any prouder of my wife and her efforts. It was really tough on her, and I'm hoping she continues to recover quickly.
The twins have had some ups and downs, and some time in Special Care, but they came in at 6lb1 and 7lb1, so a good size.

On the breastfeeding front, my wife is determined, but the children have not responded well just yet so they are getting fed formula via feeding tubes for now, just enough to keep them well-fed, with a bit spare to try and get them to push for more from the breast. We'll see how it works.

Congratulations, those are good weights for twins.
 
Soldato
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Manchester, UK
Well, the twins turned up yesterday and it's not quite chaos yet!
Can't say I could be any prouder of my wife and her efforts. It was really tough on her, and I'm hoping she continues to recover quickly.
The twins have had some ups and downs, and some time in Special Care, but they came in at 6lb1 and 7lb1, so a good size.

On the breastfeeding front, my wife is determined, but the children have not responded well just yet so they are getting fed formula via feeding tubes for now, just enough to keep them well-fed, with a bit spare to try and get them to push for more from the breast. We'll see how it works.

Congratulations! My daughter was in NICU after birth and was very drowsy due to my wife having diamorphine during labour so my daughter struggled to feed for the first few days. It took a couple of weeks before she was feeding properly but once she could latch properly, she was a milk fiend.
 
Soldato
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On the Amiga500
Well, the twins turned up yesterday and it's not quite chaos yet!
Can't say I could be any prouder of my wife and her efforts. It was really tough on her, and I'm hoping she continues to recover quickly.
The twins have had some ups and downs, and some time in Special Care, but they came in at 6lb1 and 7lb1, so a good size.

On the breastfeeding front, my wife is determined, but the children have not responded well just yet so they are getting fed formula via feeding tubes for now, just enough to keep them well-fed, with a bit spare to try and get them to push for more from the breast. We'll see how it works.
Crazy times. Congratulations :)
 
Soldato
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Congrats! Glad everyone is doing well. Are you at home yet? I remember feeling like I had stolen a baby because clearly I was unqualified to be taking a live baby out of the hospital to take care of it.
 
Soldato
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Thanks fellas!

I can't see us being home any time soon. My wife has some fairly serious mobility issues, so I imagine they will be wanting to keep an eye on her for a day or two yet - at the very least. The babies are out of SCBU (they were in sporadically), have had their cannulas and feeding tubes removed, and are feeding from cups - so they are getting there as well. I'm keen to get them home (so I can start paternity!), but only once they are fit to be there.

The babies are proving very popular with the midwives, as I don't think they see that much blonde hair on the average newborn! And they don't moan a lot :D
 
Soldato
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We were in for a couple days due to the emergency c section, but it was quite handy getting the extra advice and help of the midwives in retrospect. Couple days of training wheels like. Glad the twins are doing well and hope the other half recovers quickly.
 
Soldato
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I remember when ours was born we were asked straight away breast or formula. We replied formula and they went and fetched us a couple of bottles and that was that. My wife had already made up her mind that she didnt want to do it but there was nobody there trying to talk her out of it or suggest that she tries it. She was a little bit nervous about getting a lecture as the midwife who had been to visit at home was quite pushy about the benefits of it.
 
Soldato
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@Pookie Bear - Congratulations! I found one hard enough, I can’t even imagine what it’d be like with two! Good luck, GD is with you!

I’ve only seemingly just come out of the fog after our daughter was born and she’s 20 months now. Having 2 horrendous rotations between 6 and 18 months really didn’t help much. An emotional rollercoaster and I’m not sure if I’m crazy or stupid or both for wanting another one at some stage. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard in my life both at home and at work. Probably should have posted in this thread a bit earlier for some internet support.

Overall it’s the hardest thing that I’ve ever done and I didn’t even give birth and breastfeed!
 
Soldato
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We're up to day four.

My wife is getting stronger but still very limited mobility. It's getting better though and she's trying hard. The babies are both being cup-fed which is a lot of work for both of us - I was there for three hours earlier and it was non-stop changing, cleaning, feeding, dressing, cuddling, and trying to work out why they were crying! It' pretty intense, and no wonder they are pushing me to start staying the night - which I can do tonight, but then I'm back to work and have a diabetic cat to give regular shots to :D

Thanks for all the kind comments, they're much appreciated.
 
Soldato
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We're up to day four.

My wife is getting stronger but still very limited mobility. It's getting better though and she's trying hard. The babies are both being cup-fed which is a lot of work for both of us - I was there for three hours earlier and it was non-stop changing, cleaning, feeding, dressing, cuddling, and trying to work out why they were crying! It' pretty intense, and no wonder they are pushing me to start staying the night - which I can do tonight, but then I'm back to work and have a diabetic cat to give regular shots to :D

Thanks for all the kind comments, they're much appreciated.
I remember that feeling. Essentially it's just that checklist at the start: hungry? Wet? Hugs? Tired? Until you get to know them well enough to figure it out. You'll soon settle into a routine, don't worry dude!
 
Soldato
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Our boy is 7 months now and starting to master crawling, albeit in reverse... So not quite the master just yet :D

Best ideas for approaching this little problem please?

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And no, I don't mean the gloriously white walls... I'm sure that is going to become another fun problem soon after the steps.
 
Soldato
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Yep, 3rd step ftw. He will climb them, and probably fall down them, but without serious injury most likely. They're fairly robust.

3 years down the line we've finally got rid of the stair gates. Must say that despite initial terror, it's been great. "daddy I need to pee" "okay go pee then, I'll wait down here for you".
 
Associate
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Our boy is 7 months now and starting to master crawling, albeit in reverse... So not quite the master just yet :D

Best ideas for approaching this little problem please?

And no, I don't mean the gloriously white walls... I'm sure that is going to become another fun problem soon after the steps.

Also make sure you get one of the gates that does not have the bar across the bottom to avoid tripping.
 
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