to ask for positive pnd outcome stories?

[CailinDana]

Have finally admitted i have pnd. I've had depression before so i know i have a slow road to recovery ahead. I would so appreciate anyone else's stories of how they overcame pnd. I need some reassurance at the moment.

Morning cailin, DD is 6 months this week. She goes to bed around 6.30pm then has a dream feed at 10pm. She sleeps then until 5.30am although she has been starting to wake earlier over this last week.

DDs first months were really difficult, she rarely slept after 2am. I can totally sympathise, sleep deprivation really wears you down!

I really beat myself up about not being able to "manage" dd. She'll only nap on me so i rarely get a chance to do housework or play with ds.

Dd is whinging and i haven't a clue what's wrong with her. I never know

Teething?
Wind?
Tired?
Hot?
Cold?
Hungry?
I used to have list like this I would run through and if none of it helped I just accepted ds1 was having a bad day (we all have those, right?)
Am so sorry op.
The fear and anxiety are crippling at times.

I think she's tired but getting her to sleep is a major operation.

Have you checked out the baby whisperer book?
If did help me - as much as anything could!
It helped me feel I had some routine and control over sleep time.

I'll have a look

Cailin

Forgive me if you've already answered this - I don't think I've seen the answer ont his thread...how old is LO?

I was going to suggest the Baby Whisperer yesterday - it really helped me, having a flexible routine gave me something to focus on and gave me structure that I needed...I wasn't militant with it (that's not what the BW is about, it's more about you and LO being a team and figuring it out together) but having that bit of structure helped in some way.

Can I just say, Quintessential, how utterly amazing your DH sounds?

I used to put DD in her pram and go for a walk when she couldn't sleep (to the local shop mostly for things I didn't need but having a purpose helped). I found taking the focus away from actually trying to get her to sleep helped me to stop crying feel a bit better.

In the house I felt trapped, frustrated, guilty...walking DD in the pram and listening to music was the closest I got to the break I craved on some days. I made myself think that if she slept then great, if not then she was safe and needed little attention from me for a while.

I still do this now, its my way of exerting a little control in a world that can't really be orderly.In fact I'm taking DD and DS over to the park shortly to do this!

We had a big struggle getting ds onto bottles but had to persist because I was going back to work (from 4 months). He is mix fed now (at 6 months). Anyway we tried pretty much every bottle but had most success with the 'breastflow' ones. Worth a try? The advice I was given was to persist, offer bottle instead of breast for one feed each day, you need to be out of the way, right out of the house if possible, person offering it (e.g. DH) should try to be calm and cheerful about it and give a sense of enjoying the 'special time'. DH would watch cartoons with him at the same time. Try at a point when you think the baby is getting hungry but not yet ravenous/desperate. Drop the attempt as soon as the baby becomes stressed or upset, but don't immediately give a breastfeed instead.

Breastfeeding definitely contributed to my PND (was severe, now in the 'moderate' category). There is nothing wrong with moving away from breastfeeding if you think it is a major contributory factor for you.

Dd is 3 months pink.

For some reason she has hardly fed today and won't latch. Feeding was the one reliable thing.

Oh gosh...12 weeks is still such early days op!
You both need to get to know one another and learn each others little ways and what works and what doesn't.
Perhaps she is under the weather? The only time my 2 don't eat is when they are ill/coming down with something.

Maybe. I'm just dreading a bad night.

I can understand that.
I am ill ATM (bloody ulcerated throat) so won't be asleep much tonight either :(
Will be around if you need to chat x

Cailin. I really relate- by 12 weeks w ds I was sick of being tired and had "decided" before he arrived that things wd get better from 12 weeks. When they didn't, I was distraught. It is true that 12 weeks is still pretty new but 3 months of crap sleep is a long time.

How was last night? Other than feeding, how has dd been today?

Thanks x hope you feel better soon

Last night wasn't great, got max 2hours in a row. Dd's not been too bad today, mil is here so she's helping. I'm currently in bed. Dd is with dh crying.

Thank you.
I had a little visitor last night (ds2) and then he fell out of bed with such a clatter at 2.30am!
So I got about 2 hours too and it is grim

Dd just took 2oz of milk from a bottle! Miracles fucking bloody well do happen!!

Yay!!
So pleased for you (and her)
X

2oz - yay!