WIBU to serve chicken kiev with garlic bread and salad?

[StarlingMurmuration]

Backstory: I've got a six month old DS who sleeps really badly, so I'm permanently shattered. I've just put him to bed, and my partner is on a call for work. We usually cook together, or he cooks while I get the baby to bed.

We were planning enchiladas for dinner, which DP usually cooks. I really can't face doing it myself, so I was going to stick chicken kievs in the oven and serve them with potato wedges and salad. But the potatoes I had in the cupboard have gone bad. So would I be unreasonable to serve the chicken kievs with garlic bread and salad instead? Or should I suck it up and go and buy more potatoes? The shop is a ten minute drive away. Bear in mind that DS is likely to wake up at least once before 9pm and then possibly even 45 minutes after that for the rest if the night.

You just brought a tear to my eye margaritte.

Becoming a mum is so hard isn't it. I wish there had been fora when I had my first.

Wants to tuck the OP up in bed with tea and cake and take her baby for a long walk so she can get a rest.

OP ring the Millpond Sleep Clinic - they were fantastic for me with my non-sleeping DS.

And I would really cut back on the cooking. Frozen pizza and baked beans covers all the main food groups, and breakfast cereal is also packed with added vitamins, iron etc. Plenty of time for gourmet meals when your baby sleeps and you're feeling stronger.

It can be a very difficult time when your baby doesn't sleep. I remember my DS crying for hours every evening. it may be hard to think clearly with your PND but try to remember this is only a short period in your and your DC's life. Things will get better.

In the meantime try to be kind to yourself. I second the poster who said online shopping. Fill your freezer with easy meals. As long as you have some frozen veg and some bagged salad you'll be fine. Have an apple for pudding. Don't worry about trying to cook from scratch.

Use the time your MIL baby sits to have a nice bath and a nap. Get some exercise by taking your baby for a walk in his pram - I remember walking round and round Sainsbury with mine when it was raining outside! And hopefully if he's still asleep when you get home put your feet up om the sofa. Would your MIL also be able to help you by doing a bit of ironing for you or something like that?

It is certainly worth seeing your GP about your DC's ears in case there is an infection and make sure you have also been about your PND. Yes to the calpol. If you are concerned about the amount you are giving him just make sure he has it in the evening. You can get something to rub on gums as well just check its suitable for 3 months.

I hope things will be better for you soon x x

PM me anytime starling - it's hard to talk about the reality of non sleeping babies in RL isn't it, many people don't get it and grandparents have usually forgotten what it was really like. If your mil ever seems disapproving try to tell yourself that - anyone in your /our position would be seriously struggling.

I've escaped to get my hair done this morning. Pretty much just shoved the kids at DH and ran away but I'm on my second so I do know it won't always be this tough and the baby will be fine without me for a bit.

My DP has a moan if I cook stuff like that, he would like a hand cooked from scratch home cooked meal every night but he can get stuffed! If I'm knackered, he will get what he's given or can cook for himself!

Don't know why I added the hand cooked bit in!

Hello you poor sleep deprived creature, I remember those days well even 14 years on

IT DOES GET BETTER!

Anyway, in this house we would only have Kiev with salad anyway so anything else you serve will be a bonus

WRT batch cooking - slow cooker and just double or triple your recipe and freeze in containers. Curry, bolognaise, chilli, savoury mince, stew and dumplings. You can also do whole chickens so bung it in in the morning and serve with salad and crusty bread at dinner time. Make things as easy as you can while you are feeling rough.

Dh used to say if he came home and neither ds or I was crying then it was a good day and if there was food around then it was even better

Go to freezer section, buy selection of frozen potato goods. Waitrose does nice hash browns, potato croquettes, wedges roasties etc. kievs, chicken or lemon sole goujons also freeze well. These are what I lived on when I was wearing your shoes - beige freezer food. You are doing really well! pretends not to still have beige freezer food habit 3 years on

YY frozen potato products are what you need and frozen veg, there are some really nice selections in Tesco atm, all far better than it used to be.

I had PND with dd1and sleep was for wimps according to her it was hellish and cooking used to send me into a panic i used to cook and eat simple when it was bad i honestly think you just need to concentrate on the basics

Also nothing wrong with ready made salad and a tub of hummus and bread. Keep it really simple atm.

Sorry about my post last night Starling, it wasn't very nice. I hope today is a better day for you

Actually I havave just remembered my dh saying very gently when dd was about six weeks old "darling, do you think we can have something other than chicken, ham, salad and new potatoes this weekend and I'm a bit fed up with coleslaw". My dd is 16 and he still won't eat coleslaw.

Having said that OP - its an easy few items to have stocked in the fridge. You can boil a big pan of new potatoes and just heat up what you want in the microwave as you go along.

Op I have been near tears reading your thread as it brought back just how horrific sleep deprivation is. I'm a lone parent and ds woke every 90 mins until he was 2. My mum was like your mil and thought I should just get on with it, and that if she ever had him it was so I could do jobs etc.

Ds is 3 now and I promise, PROMISE, it does get easier and you will sleep again soon. I know you say your in the middle of no where, but if that's near Northumberland at all then let me know. I'll happily drop off some batch cooking for your freezer

Oh I feel for you OP. My child was the same.

Now nearly 6 and sleeps beautifully. I know that seems a hundred years away, but it will get better, I promise!!!

OP, its fucking tough having a baby (let alone a 'high maintenance' / non sleeping baby) and that is without any pnd or anxiety thrown into the mix.

You don't need to serve up a decent, cooked from scratch meal every night.

There are many decent and not too calorific ready meals out there. There is rice and mash you can microwave. There is veg you can microwave. Salad comes in bags... even a whole chicken can be bunged in microwave these days.

Cheats save my sanity some days [2.5 year old and 4 month old]....

Like others, this thread has brought back the horrors of sleep deprivation. I too had a baby whose sleep turned upside down at around 4 months, and for a period was waking every hour during the night, and up for the day at 5am.

I really feel for you and hope things change soon (on that note, do try the gradual withdrawal method advocated in 'The No Cry Sleep Solution' by Elizabeth Pantley, it's slow but gentle on both you and your baby).

On a practical level, lower your standards, whilst making sure you're fuelling your body. Waitrose ready meals / bagged salad / pre-prepared vegetables are your friends. Make sure you have things like yogurt or muesli bars ready to just grab. Go really easy on yourself, rest up horizontally when you can, do minimal housework, only see people if you really want to. If you get the opportunity with someone babysitting, leave the house, get some fresh air, a coffee, magazine, whatever works to re-charge your batteries.

I promise it will change. Those days are like a fog, a horrible fog. Yet now my non-sleeping baby is a gorgeous 8 year old who I just adore and falls asleep as his head touches the pillow.

How the hell is additive filled processed crap like quorn fillets better than chicken? Any chicken? For crying out loud!

How about dropping your insensitive, badly timed food police act and offering a bit of sympathy, MythicalChicken?

You know, I didn't have kids who never slept - DD was fab, but DS not so good, but nothing like some of the babies I've read about on Mumsnet. I thought I was hard done by when I had to get up twice in the night. I know that I was pretty lucky.

I don't think people realise how bad and how tough it can be when your baby doesn't sleep. They think 'that is just what having a baby is like', or advise you to let them cry it out.

Take the time that MIL gives you to do something for you. The fact that she comes over every week suggests she is trying to help. Be honest with her. Say that you don't want her to think you are being lazy, but you really need a break, and would she mind if you just went to bed for a sleep.

I had PND after my DS, and I will never forget the kindness of my MIL. We moved in with her for 5 or 6 weeks - DH was travelling a lot at the time, and we decided it was easier for me to go there, where I had more support. They fed me and pampered me and generally looked after me and DS (and DD). I'm hoping that your MIL will be as supportive as mine was.

I'm sorry things are so tough right now.my daughter is eight months old and the sleep went to pot at four months too. We have just got it back on track by using the pick up put down method - not for everyone but worked for us and she is now sleeping through and settling herself. It took three nights to crack it. I was dubious but we had to do something for my sanity. Another vote for freezer veg and meals, cereals, toast, soup and fruit just make it easy on yourself! Hope that things improve soon xxx

Either OP has made a secret post saying she's outside the UK that I can't see, or MythicalChicken has been at too many US websites and is unaware of EU law and practice relating to hormones in chicken. I'm going to go for option two.

OP, when you're that sleep deprived and yet managing to serve up a meal, by definition you could not possibly be unreasonable. And garlic is good for you! Also I don't see how you could've gone out on Friday night anyway if DH was on call. If the shop is 10 minutes away, that's at least a 22 minute round trip to buy potatoes. I presume DH has to go straight away when he's called, so if that had happened when you were more than a couple of minutes away from the house, there'd have been a problem?

StarlingMurmuration, I'm really, really sorry. I spent so long looking for this Quorn pics that I didn't read any of your posts after the first one.

Apologies

Chicken Kiev and white rice is a standard meal in my house, the rice soaks up all the garlic butter nicely :) Uncle Bens microwave rice if im feeling particularly lazy!

First of all, thank you all so much for being lovely and kind! I teared up several times reading your comments.

I am getting help for the PND... In fact, my DP called my support worker this morning to tell her I'm struggling, and they're going to step up my support. The PIL are here looking after my DS downstairs while I eat my lunch upstairs, they've mowed the lawn and hung out the washing for me while I went to Mothercare to get a high chair. I've contacted Millpond about the boy's terrible sleeping and this weekend my DP has done every night wake up and the early mornings too so I can rest. He's also working from home for a couple of days to take the pressure off. I think I need to admit to myself that I am ill and that I can't just soldier on as though I'm fine.

Mythical, thanks :) It was Waitrose chicken kiev so hopefully not full of shit! I only buy free range organic chicken, though DP will get any old thing if I let him!

cheese, what's the pick up put down method? At the moment, we're trying to calm him by shushing and patting, but still staying with him til he falls asleep (in the cot instead of on my knee though).