High-Need Baby Support Thread II

[tickleme63]

Hey ladies, here's a shiny new thread for us to discuss, query, whinge about and rejoice our high-need bubs!

Pretty bad night last night, bleeding exhausted. Can see why so many of you co-sleep. We haven't gone down that route, but it's never looked so attractive...

Gawd, grizzly DS. Poor tooths. Hope you have had a decent night!

I would be really annoyed with her Button - if I borrowed something and broke it I would replace it straight away, as would most people I imagine!

Well done BabyKong on the crawling - hope you've babyproofed!

BabySpanner amazed me last night, he had a very busy day with only 1hr of napping (instead of his usual 3hrs) and we went to my dad's retirement party so there were lots of strangers around but he smiled and cooed and chatted away to everyone. I was expecting a bad night, but he slept for 6 hours straight between 11 and 5 maybe I let him sleep too much during the day?

QK wow! But I agree - you'll soon be wishing he wasn't. With my first, I was bothered by the fact that she didn't walk til 18m. With the others, I was mighty grateful!

Spanner I often wonder what has contributed to a good/bad night but as I keep a food and sleep diary I know that nothing I do makes the blindest bit of difference. Some of babybutton's best nights have been after the smallest feeds and biggest sleeps!

Last night was rubbish again. He was up at 10.30 for a feed and then I put him back and left him 30mins to settle cos if I'm there he thinks its playtime. When I went back in to go to bed, the whole room stank. He'd done the biggest smelliest poo ever and was sound asleep. Based on the logic that he'd be easier to settle if I woke him then I changed him. He slept through the whole thing! But he was then awake fussing between 2-5 again.

Lovely start to the day though - lady from children's centre came to have a chat and said that I'd revolutionised her weekends. When ds was weighed months ago (think he was about 8wks) we were chatting about ironing and the fact that even with 4dcs my ironing pile is minimal as I simply don't do any (apart from smart shirts and a couple of my dresses). She was saying that she couldn't understand that as she ironed everything - even pants and towels . I explained my method - shake and hang up carefully when wet, fold carefully as you put away and hey presto, most creases are gone. She looked sceptical but said she'd give it a go as she was fed up of spending 3 hours every Sunday ironing. She said this morning that she's cut it down to 45mins and wanted to say how grateful she was! I'm obviously a bit tired and hormonal still as I was welling up at the thought that I'd helped someone. Saddo! Still, it was nice to hear of someone being liberated from the clutches of unnecessary ironing Made me feel a bit warm inside!

Oh, now not so good. Think I have a sinus infection on the way - gp's out of appts so looks like I'll be visiting the OOH dr later.

But worse than that is that dd1's blood tests have come back normal - hear me out. She began her periods aged 13 and from the first one they were ultra heavy (think huge flooding onto sheets, ruining clothes etc) and every 21 days to the day. She's been on the pill for about a year which has helped with the spacing but not much with the flow. Now, for a few months, she's been poorly just before each period - off her food and nausea, pale, wibbly and tired, woozy if she stands up too fast etc. I was assuming it was anaemia so was shocked today when the results from yesterday's bloods came back as normal. So now I'm worrying what else it can be? Think will post over in health. See if there are any HCPs with any ideas. She's back in to see the gp on Tuesday, but I'd like some sort of idea before then or at least things to ask.

She's off school again today. This is happening every single damn month and she's meant to be doing her GCSEs for goodness' sake!

Button - I used to be like that, and then started getting migraines before periods. The illness was probably childhood migraine. I was put on Diannette hormonal pill for acne, and the problems went away. Normal combined pill hadn't made any difference. Just an anecdote though....

Am I the only one who still has to stay with their DC in the bed after their bedtime? I only occasionally get downstairs for a few minutes without her crying. Never thought it would be like this at 8 months..... :(

Rubbish night last night. I felt ill, and she fed every hour. Because I had a high temperature I felt cold, so kept over- covering her, and she overheated and woke up crying at 4am in a state :( :(

What will it be like with 2 children? This one takes all my time! (Not that I'm pregnant but I'm running out of time at 39)

Jen & QK sorry to hear about your bad nights. We've had some of those here, but realised today as DS chomped on my finger that we have a tooth coming through. Apart from lots of waking he's been remarkably cheerful about it so far. He does keep running his tongue over it though (wondered what he was doing!).

Tickle - it's lovely when there's other people around during the day isn't it? My Mum's up on Monday and I'm really looking forward to it.

Button - sorry to hear about your DDs periods. Sounds horrid. Hope you get to the bottom of the issues soon.

I'm off for an afternoon nap with DS!

Missed your post somehow LWL. Sorry to hear it's so rough with you. Did you ever get your DDs TT looked at again. Did you try any cranial osteopathy after the TT was released?

QK - you made it onto talk round up! Do we have to call you ma'am now?

Whaa...? What did I say? Was it my moaning from Wednesday?

LWL - nope you're not the only one, I too have to go to bed when DS does still, with the occasional blip when I get perhaps 30 mins downstairs. The only respite I get us when I go out the play netball and DP does the honours. Ridiculous at 8 months, I agree... not like we haven't tried though eh?!

I saw you in the roundup too QK! I got all excited that someone I "knew" was mentioned

Once I've fed DS to sleep I have about 30 seconds to commando roll away from him otherwise he wakes up and refuses to go back to sleep for hours

Hope you're feeling better LWL, I don't know about you but it seems to be an endless round of colds here, I don't remember being like this before having DS!

Button - your DD's periods sound miserable, hope the GP can help. It may be worth changing the pill she's on, or there's something called tranexamic acid which works for heavy bleeding which may be worth a try I'm sure she has, but she had her thyroid checked? And it's good that she's not anaemic despite the heavy bleeding, you must be giving her a good diet :) (Btw I do the same thing with careful folding/shaking, haven't ironed anything for 10yrs now )

LWL - Don't worry, I am still doing the up and down stairs dance all evening. Sometimes I get lucky and he gives me an hour, sometimes I just give up and go to bed at 8:30pm. You're not alone.

Queen -no it was your comment about getting invited to lesley33's wedding.

Just had a lovely nap - what's the betting he doesn't sleep tonight now?

LWL - DH is adamant we're only having one DC. Am inclined to agree with him at the moment!

Spanner no, we've not had her thyroid checked. They just wanted a full blood count done. If we have to have another lot of bloods done I might just scream. The last lot yesterday were traumatic enough! Someone else on the health board just said tranexamic acid worked for them so I might mention that. I'm going to ask for a referral to a gynae though - I'd rather if there IS a problem that we deal with it sooner rather than later. She can't go on missing school!

QK we are not worthy

Oh, and my replacement Maclaren has just turned up! Only worth mentioning as they said it would arrive on Tuesday

Sorry for my quick reply earlier - I never seem to get much time to actually type much before I get interrupted!! (DS in the bath with daddy now!). Thanks all for the earlier sympathies/coffee/cake/choc etc ... I do hope tonight is better...the same empty hope I have every night...

button sounds horrible for your poor DD, I do hope she gets the right diagnosis and treatment quickly. Also, YANBU at all about the buggy, sounds like a bit of a p*ss take to me! Surely it's a given that you return a borrowed item, in good condition, or replace it - especially something as pricy as a buggy.

I had a lovely lunch of cake at a local garden centre with a friend today, and then this afternoon had a blissful back massage while DP looked after DS for a few hours. Oooooh did I need that! I find my shoulder really suffers from the cosleeping - with one arm out over DS's head most of the night. Not to mention just general backache from lugging an 8mo baby around all day! I think new quiche rules should dictate a massage for all suffering mums.

Lovely day here too :) DS has been such a good boy all day. We had him weighed this morning, and he's now 19lb 1oz. Chunky monkey! Then we went for a stroll in his pushchair into town, stayed out from 11.45am till 5pm shopping, eating and mooching around - not a peep out of him, and he took 2 naps! Couldn't believe it, was so refreshing. Actually managed to try some clothes on and bought some bits for when I go back to work! Happy Tickle, haven't done that since I bought my maternity clothes!

I put it down to the fact that he is now facing forwards (I'm not too happy about it, but it beats listening to him wailing) - he seems so much happier.

Ooh yes, massage for all! I keep meaning to book one before I go back to work... Sounds bliss, Jen :)

Glad you had a lovely day tickle! I've found DS is also much happier in the pushchair now he's facing forwards. must be cos he's such a nosey bugger

Gosh, it's been eventful on here!!
Jen, I'm giving her cough bottle, but not much use tbh!
The quiche is getting a tough time with sleep atm, I'm a walking zombie atm, with ds! He goes down to sleep well and easily, but by 11pm, he's unsettled, but can get him down again. At 4am, he's awake for the day. End. Of. Tether. Somethings gotta give, but much sympathies LWL as at least I get some evening to myself. If I wasn't working, I'd probably think differently, but I don't get sitting down till about 10pm, relax for an hour and then ds starts up again. Dh is losing his patience with me more now, and we are disagreeing over how to deal with the night wakenings...

On the plus side, I bit the bullet and ordered a mei tai!!! It arrived yesterday and I took ds for a walk today- he loved it!! I'm totally new to babywearing, but think it'll help when I come home in the evenings, to allow me to get dinner etc ready- am really happy with how comfy it is!! Dh thinks it's hilarious btw- not really his cup of tea, but he don't have to wear it!!

Sleep dust for all tonight, and maybe some wine if you don't fall asleep half way through your glass!

Tickle - glad you had a good day!

Also kind of glad that I'm not alone with the bedtime with the baby - although I wouldn't wish it on anyone, it's good to know I'm not alone. Although she's only just gone to sleep now tonight - been pacing round all evening in shifts... :(

Jeewizz - I've been wanting a massage for MONTHS. Glad it wasa nice

Mampig - my DP loves our mei ta. And I used it today as she refused to be back wrapped - but was still happy to go on my back in the babyhawk :)

All I want is some time to myself. A massage. A swim. A walk to the shops and back alone. But we never seem to manage it. DP has DD for 30mins in the morning so I can either lie in or shower, and about 10mins in the evening, but other than that I haven't had any time off from her. She wont go with grandparents so haven't even tried a babysitter... I'm feeling really sorry for myself sorry ladies... :( :( :(

Oh dear LWL. My dh is never here so we rarely go out and the one occasion we did he howled all night with the sitter. All our others have been scarily quick to forget us and suck up to whoever was caring for them so it was a shock to receive a text after 2 hours saying 'he won't stop crying'.

It will get better. That is my current mantra. That and 'one day (or night) I will sleep all night again'.

I tried to buy some pjs yesterday but they only had 9-12m in pink so didn't buy. My friend who has a ds nearly one (but just as chunky as my monkey) came to my rescue today and delivered two pais of pjs this afternoon. I washed them super quick (he seems a bit sensitive to 'alien' washing powder at the mo) and popped him in. So, we'll see if that makes any difference at all! Thankfully my sinus pain seems to have receded but that might be due to the sudafed, brufen and codeine I've been mainlining all day

Actually, the one person he will be left with is my mum. Unless he howls with her too and she just is too tactful to say? Oh dear. Another thing to stress about.

LWL- please be kinder to yourself! Book that massage for a week's time ( or 2), put in place a plan to go, nomatter what. You can do it! Dd will be absolutely fine without you, and your dh must simply step up to the mark and do his duty. If you don't invest some time in your emotional wellbeing, you will become very unwell. It's so important to have some time out to yourself, and it will go so far in increasing your coping skills with your dd. Think about it, for your own good.

When you do it once, it'll be easier to do it again, and plan some time to yourself every week, even just 1 hour will really help (mucho hugs)

Sorry for being self-pitying.

I know I need to get time, and DP always agrees in principle, but when it comes around he's in the middle of something, and by the time he's ready it's nap time, or she's hungry or something else and I usually say don't bother.

Mampig and button I actually started crying at your posts. I really need some time! But he'w working tomorrow, and sailing on sunday....

Button - I'm sure your mum would tell you the truth!