Bet she can't believe you're still around. You've had this baby for just over a week. Everything's been going okay, you survived. But it has been a real roller coaster of emotions and changes and you know, you generally are a bit sick of it, you kind of want to get to know this baby, get to know what happens. And so that you can start to feel confident. And I'm here to tell you there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

The hormones have reached their peak, which you think what? And it's because that day seven, day eight, you get this big surge of, of estrogen again, estrogen, and that's making everything go back to where it needed to be. So you know, all the organs have to move back down. So you tell me, you bow feels right. gurgly and czerny, you get an increase in blood loss, which comes out of nowhere, anything bad and it would be sticky, might be some little clots, and it's a bit redder than it has been. So it does that and then it settles down that makes you look forward to so don't wear your white pair any white knickers without a backup pair a pen, a pad in your bag, and increase blood loss gurgly Tammy, that you just feel.

And you know, to be honest, the best thing for you is a white bag and maybe some panadol and having a wrist and you go and do a super poo, which is very exciting. And then everything will settle down is still probably beginning some night sweats, which is something that really takes you by surprise. And you can always talk to your mum and she'll go Oh, yes, dear. That's a lot like metaphor. And it is it's a big hormonal change similar to menopause. It does.

Make you have like a bit of this the way you sometimes at the start or the end, that's why you get the night sweats. That's why you're hormonal the tummy changes that's all linked together. So peaks about day seven, day eight, day eight, and then it will slowly get better by you know, 1011 days you're like feeling like messed up and you do you know, everything has settled down your healings, getting a lot better, you don't tend to need as much pain relief and your boots have settled down you think hallelujah though, so do you got him still got a pair got a lot more confident. You really don't care about flipping them out with anyone can have a look these days. And, and so that swelling, that edema that was sitting on top is getting a bit better, and you start to feel full and empty.

And the emptiness takes you by surprise to be honest because you think Gone. And you know, it tends to happen eight o'clock at night, eight 910 o'clock when the baby's feeding quite frequently. And you think, Oh, my God, like how can the milk be gone and now it's not gone. It's, you know, there's not as much milk as there is in the morning and that's okay. And we need the emptiness to prevent things like mastitis and oversupply so don't feel like you need to express or do anything to have a bit more have a backup, you know, this is how it's meant to be trust your body, it knows exactly what it's doing. So you feel full in the morning and empty in the afternoon.

And as the days goes on, you will get used to this feeling because they can't do like they did on day four day five all the time, or to be honest and I wanted want to breastfeed because that's a terrible feeling to have all the time. So boobs will have fallen empty, you might find that you get little lumps, lumps of milk that you even you know, if you feel a lump up here, you might just get knee, massage it towards your nipple as the baby's feeding. If you find that you get a persistent lump that's not moving, but you're getting cranky and it's getting tender, then that's something that we start to think is that mastitis now mastitis is the collection of milk and milk that that's not training is an overgrowth of bacteria that causes a localized infection that and left untreated that can be a bit nasty, but you and your boots a good friend these days, so you'll pick up on a change and you know, Western dry knees and massage and hot and cold you can prevent a problem.

But if you let it go, you know it can manifest itself in 12 hours which is huge. There is some information in the resource section on mastitis if you feel like it's coming on you know getting on top of it quickly. And if you start to feel this overwhelming you know high temperature you feel If you're really viral and yucky, you know, you might need to be a GP or your lactation consultant midwife and get some antibiotics just to knock that bacterial overgrowth on its head. But it doesn't mean that any but anybody, it's not only treatment, it's drainage massage, there's other bits to it, but I won't go through them here. Because the other thing that may happen with your boots in the fall and the empty pattern, and knowing that this little baby is back to its birth weight or pretty close to it, it's gonna need to demand more milking, and you're gonna think I'm so glad that Donna sent me lactation cookies because I really feel like I need a boost.

And so this supply you know, you have to only get what you need when you need it. So your baby will grow it will think I need another 30 mils of milk per feed and it will demand more frequently. So I mean that it will go from zero face to face, or go from one boob to two boobs each face. And that means that it's triggering an increase in supply from an increasing, demanding, so you can't feed for longer to make more milk, you need to have this baby feeding more frequently. And it will do it all on its own. You'll notice that two to three hours the babies aren't and you're like, God, how can I be hungry again, but it's because it needs the frequency of feeding to bring the whole mines up to bring the milk up.

Now that pattern is a lot like what you had 11 days ago, and it's going to be for 48 hours. So that increased frequent feeding for 48 hours, then the milk Gods come and they deliver more milk. And then we're back to oversupply a little bit full and managing that again. So know that that's normal. And you know, I know that this weekend like I just want to know when I want to call confident and I want it to be the same. But that's going to be in a few weeks time, not quite this week.

And so yeah, just feel confident and patient and kind of keep rolling with it. If you're formula feeding, you might find that the baby does want a little bit more milk at this stage. So you might go up by one scoop, so it might have been having 50 meals and you might go up to 80 or might be 6090. So you know, that depends a bit on the weight of your baby, and the quota that we work out, which is again listed in the resource section, the quota we jump from 150 mils, a kilo to 180, that's because the stomach size is bigger. And so therefore the baby want a little bit more milk. So yeah, so just adjust if you need to, and you'll just notice the baby's drinking or the milk and you need to give them a bit more.

So that's the boots and supply. So as you can imagine if the baby's feeding more frequently And your nipples were feeling okay. No tassels and belly dancing or anything yet. And they can get a little bit tender again. And that's because of the increased frequency. So you know, you might have put your nipple cream or your your hydrogen or breast dis or something already in the drawer and you might need a weapon back out for a few days.

And so know that it is gonna get better, like, you know, Mrs. hormonal. Gonna get better eating. It's just that this baby wants to feed that extra bit. And now we're hanging in there and I got a bit tender. So nourish them again, let them heal themselves, and then you'll find you know, next week, we won't even be talking about them. Trust me.

Now, I must say I hate people that they trust me. And I hate saying it. But you know, it is a phase and I know that you've got to a point where you're sick of it being a face, but you know, it's nearly over. So there's a few changes this week. That Be honest, probably take you a bit by surprise. And you're thinking I was gonna put my body section in week two, isn't it all about the baby, the baby menu.

But remember, we're about you feeling confident with you and the baby, I don't want you to be worried that you're gonna bleed to death because you're bleeding is picked up on day eight or that you've got an infection or something like that. Because this is all really normal. Your body needs another way to heal it. It's still repairing, it took nine months to grow that baby or 10 months, and you can't expect it to be fixed in one week. So be kind to it. Be kind to yourself.

Stop feeling like you need to know everything you don't need to know at all. It's a normal change in time. And so just trust it. It's gonna be better next week. See you then