Ella is an IVF baby, born on the 13th December 2021 at 4:55pm. I was induced at 39+4 using the pessary & manually had my waters broken two days after. Ella was a water birth, a quick birth at that, 2 & a half hours weighing 7lbs 8oz using only gas & air.
Everything was textbook, so I was offered to go home that night but opted to stay at the hospital for the first night, by 10am the next day we went home. Ella had passed all test with flying colours.
Initially I was breastfeeding Ella, until the constant cluster feeding (I think she was trying her hardest to get my milk to come in) for 3 days I was so sore I decided to stop breastfeeding as my nipples were so sore and bleeding but still wanted to ensure that Ella had breast milk as I believe that is the best for her development. I had Ella’s latch checked three times whilst in hospital and also when I was at home by midwives who said her latch was perfect (…I now know this probably wasn’t the case)
From day 4 in the early hours when I couldn’t take the breastfeeding pain any more we gave Ella a bottle of formula, we combi feed Ella formula & pumped breastmilk, the formula was Aptimal. From here on we started to get problems with Ella. It all started with her crying in the evenings, we thought it was “witching hour” to her constantly crying all day and all night, rearing her legs to her chest and constantly being uncomfortable and suffering with terrible silent reflux, we had to hold Ella up 30 minutes after every feed and most nights the only way she would sleep is on a tilt or on my chest.
After going back and forth to the doctors, who promised at first she was a normal baby decided they did believe something was wrong (when we got to around week 10) so we suffered for a long time as a family and from around week 8 I cut all dairy from my diet, the days where she had just breastmilk she was a happy baby, but sometimes I couldn’t keep up with demand so we would use formula which would cause her to scream & she would get a rash from her forehead down to her bellybutton and terrible reflux. The doctors prescribed Nutramigen which we used once and I took it upon myself to up my pumps to ensure Ella was as comfortable as she possibly could be and just give her breastmilk.
My pumping schedule is 4am, 8am, 11:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 8:00pm & 11pm. I’m really looking forward to the day that I can reduce the pumps. I didn’t see this much of a problem when Ella slept throughout the night, but my pumping schedule combined with Ella’s frequent wakings means that I’m severely sleep deprived.
We saw an osteopath to see if this would help, after hearing great things helping reflux babies, we do not think this improved Ella at all after 4 sessions.
I was then able to keep up with Ella’s demands with breast milk, once we cut out all formula Ella changed overnight, she was a happy content baby with no rashes, reflux had subsided completely. We then slowly discovered that she potentially had a soya allergy, as I had a soya burger which shortly after brought back all the same symptoms (rash, reflux & uncomfortable baby) so I have cut that out also.
Ella used to sleep beautifully, I was so blessed once we worked out the earlier issues, she would sleep from 7pm – 7am with one feed at 11pm, we moved Ella to her new bedroom around 4.5 months due to her hitting the sides of her next2me constantly and waking herself up, the first week in her own bedroom she loved it, however now she repeatedly wakes during the night and has done since around 5 months.
6-7am – wake, change nappy
7:15am – feed 5.5oz breast milk via bottle
*incorporated in the last week* giving Ella a little bit of breakfast at 8am
8:45am/9am – start wind down with Ella, take her in her bedroom, make sure it’s a dark environment and walk around the room rubbing her back, put her down in the crib awake, pat her chest and shush her, give her a dummy and normally is asleep by 9:10am the latest
9:45am-10am – she’s awake, change her nappy, get her dressed for the day
10:30am – feed 5.5oz breast milk
*incorporated in the last week* – giving Ella some puree food at 12
12:15/12:30pm – put Ella down for her second nap, this can range from anything from 30 minutes – 2 hours.
1/2pm depending when she has woke up nappy change, another 5.5oz bottle
4:00pm – top up feed around 2.5oz
4:30pm – cat nap for 30 minutes (more often than not she fights this and it has to be a contact nap, most of the time she will scream she does not want this nap.)
5:45pm – we start bath time
6:15 – 6oz bottle & bed
6:30-7:00pm – asleep
8:00-10:30pm – asleep (however writing this she woke up and cried 8pm & 9pm last night)
10:30pm wakes for a bottle, normally takes 4oz
11-3:00am – asleep
3:30am – normally have to go settle her, have tried offering her milk in the past she doesn’t want it, normally pop the dummy in and shush her, she goes within 10 minutes
4:30am – wakes again
5:30am – tries to start the day, normally get her back to sleep until around 6-7am
The times above vary, if Ella wakes earlier one day and I’m unable to get her back to sleep, we follow a 2-2.5 hour wake window.
Ella has a dummy which she falls asleep with & a small bunny soft toy.
She currently sleeps in her own bedroom, in her cot. If we are at home all naps are in the cot also, the 4pm nap will be a contact nap as she fights this nap every single time.
Ella will go to sleep around 6:30-7pm, we have had a routine in place which is bath and bed since she was 8 weeks old, so going to bed is really easy. Normally she will sleep through until 11pm when my husband wakes her for a feed, however lately, she has been randomly waking around 9-10pm.
My husband will shush her, pat her chest and pop her dummy in and she normally goes back to sleep straight away then wake her at 11pm.
Ella has white noise played quietly for the whole night.
More recently Ella will wake around 3/4am – she normally then rolls on to her front and cries because she’s unable to roll back. I’ll go into her room, roll her back, pop her dummy in, pat her chest & she will then go back to sleep.
5:30am she will start to stir, once again I’ll pop her dummy back in, pat her chest, shush her and she will normally go back to sleep until around 6:15-7am, more likely 6:30am she will wake.
CMPA baby – however willing to try allergen foods as part of the weaning process. I have already tried her with peanut butter which she had no reaction to.
