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!

Scary stuff Mampig. I've yet to witness a reaction on that scale (hoping I never do). DS's are frightening enough without anaphylaxis. What is it you react to? I've heard about kiwi being suspect before.

I must admit, I'm losing the will a bit with ds's allergies. They seem to be growing in number (as of course they will as he eats more) and each time I try to let his skin go back to 'normal' before trying again to confirm which can take 3-10 days depending on the severity of the reaction. I know it's something that other people deal with fine, but the thought of letting him go to school or to a friend's for tea is just scary in the extreme.

Thought I'd try cutting back on his npas today to see if that helps with the nighttime. I daresay I'll simply end up with an overtired and therefore more grumpy baby doing the same thing, but hey... I will have tried. I think MN should come up with a [banging head against brick wall with the futility of everything emoticon].

truth happy googling. One tip - don't get fixed on anything until you've tried some stuff on. Unless you make a habit of wearing gowns every day, it's amazing how little idea most women have of what will suit them! Take that in the spirit in which it is intended - from a dressmaker who has repeatedly had to attempt to change people's minds as they've got a very fixed idea in their head!

Mine is idiopathic - in other words, no known cause, they can happen at work, in bed or anytime in between. Had a few ambulance rides when I was pg with suspected early labour! Did get early sampling of gas and air tho, which I love. I take an antihistamine every day now, which keeps things well under control! I totally know what you mean about letting them go somewhere without you. I'll have to phone school and all his friends, but luckily he's very mature and knows to steer clear (he's also allergic to horses and penicillin, and is excellent at remembering this). Really hope you come to an end of allergens sometime soon, must be really hard!!

Oooh Mampig - scary!

Button Hope your DS's rash clears up quickly :(

... so re waiting for them to self settle in the night - I'm probably being a bit thick - do you mean you wait while they have a short proper cry (not grumble), then they go back to sleep? If so, do you cuddle them?

When DD wakes she whimpers, starts to whinge then roots. I have about 4 seconds in which ti latch her on before full on crying starts. If I try to cuddle her instead all hell breaks loose and we end up having to walk around the house for an hour to calm her down, then another 30minutes to get her back to sleep. I have tried this a few times, and again last night.

I am presuming this is not what happens with you?

Oh and our naps were crap today. Tried 4 times to get her to go for a morning nap. In the end we drove somewhere at 10.30, and she fell asleep but she woke when we stopped so had 20 minutes. Refused to nap this afternoon, in the end she succumbed at gone 3pm in the mei tai on DP on a walk... - just under 30minutes...

Well he's asleep in his cot. I cheated though and transferred him asleep. No idea how long he'll stay asleep but my theory is that all time spent in his cot is good.

DP bless him went out and bought a new double mattress today so if the worst comes to the worst I can sleep on the mattress on the floor with DS, which is better than being in a single.

Let's see what tonight holds. Hope you all have good nights.

LWL- maybe try Pantly removal to break the cycle? It's in the book. But once u start you'll need to follow through, so make sure dd isn't wakening with hunger. Luckily, we use a dummy, so never had the feed to sleep issue

And more recently (which seems to be working), I don't cuddle to sleep. I wait, and generally he doesn't even cry, just shouts and moans till he goes back over. Different story at 4am- but I reckon he's genuinely hungry at that stage, so I feed and take him into our bed. If he doesn't settle I put him back in his cot. I actually think he prefers the cot! When I check on him he's all spread out, which he can't do in our bed. But that's just him- they are all so different - you'll need to work out what suits you both best x

Well the cot didn't last very long. Let's try again!

DS has had 3 naps instead of 2 today - we went bowling for a friends birthday and he got horribly overstimulated by the noise and bright lights! Luckily I had taken my SSC with me so I put him in with the sleep hood up and bounced him for 45 mins until he fell asleep. 2 of the other couples there had babies too who were just happy to feed and be passed around to other people. I didn't get to do much bowling but I wasn't too bothered it was a good excuse, I'm crap at bowling

it'll be interesting to see what his sleep is like tonight considering he's had an extra nap - it can't be any worse than last night!

Well - eventful day! Rash seems to have cleared leaving crazy-bad eczema on his face, ankles and hands - his usual hotspots. He also had two teas . We were out for the first one and when we got home I took the empty pot out of his bag to clean . He saw it and went nuts! Working on the basis that babies self regulate their appetite I decided to give him the other half of the rice pudding (tomorrow's tea gone!) which he wolfed... He didn't have more than half of his milk then, but I sort of think that any food is good. And it's made with soya milk which has more calcium and other minerals than his normal formula.

I also cut back his sleep today. I think he had about 2 hours in total spread over one long nap (an hour) and two little catnaps in the car.

I'm planning to dose him up with piriton at his next bottle and also slather him with Eurax. I'm really hoping that it will help but expecting nothing. That way I can't be disappointed!

Good luck to all

Oh Button, I'm sure u are just demented with the eczema and all!! No wonder your ds finds it so hard to sleep! I hope the new tactic works for you and him!! I'm not sure if you've tried it yet, but there's a cooling spray you can get in boots (or similar) that helps with itch, and stops the itch/scratch cycle?? It's for all sorts of things, incl eczema, and is suitable for babies- maybe worth trying?? Sympathies with you both . Hope tonight is better

Well. A turn up for the books last night. I put DS down to bed and attempted the combat roll away, expecting no more than my usual 30 minute stint downstairs with DP. But no! DS managed 2.5 hours before making a peep!! DP and I had a really lovely evening together too, I'm so chuffed! It would seem the difference is that DS rolled onto his tummy at some point, he does seem to sleep better that way sometimes. He's started doing it more and more so maybe, just maybe, things might get a little better. He certainly seems to be able to settle without being rocked now (i.e. i don't have to get out of bed!) which is loads better. Still waking quite a few times a night and having a feed, and still waking very early (5-6) but heading in the right direction!

It's really interesting seeing how you are all getting on with NCSS - I think I'll be heading that way before long too, although for the moment DS's habits are obviously changing so I'll see where he goes first. Titania I can totally sympathise with the own room thing - we tried it a few weeks ago for a week and it was a total disaster . He's back with us now, but with the addition of the cot with side down next to us (I just used a bed guard before). I guess we'll try again at some point - I really hope you get better results!

button my sympathies with DS's allergies, it just sounds so horrible, I'm not surprised you're losing the will. I really hope it settles down soon and you all get to grips with the triggers.

Morning all. Well a slightly better night here. DS managed 30 mins in his cot, then woke up. I resettled him and he lasted another 2 hours. Then I bought him in with me, he tossed and turned all night though and was very unsettled.

With hindsight teething probably isn't the best time to try these things! Still we'll persevere with getting him into his cot for the first half of the night and then see where we go from there. My mums up today I'm sure she'll have some words of wisdom...

DS apart from the sleeping has been delightful recently. I think being able to crawl and move makes him much less frustrated. We've put a stair gate over the kitchen entrance as our kitchen floor is very hard and I don't really want him in there (narrow galley kitchen too). He can pull himself up on the gate and when I'm in the kitchen he crawls over pulls himself up and stands there watching me. Its so very cute.

Button hope DSs itching clears up soon. Sounds horrid poor lamb.

Jen - good to hear about your evening with DP. We managed a film on Fri eve. It was lovely!

Oh, things sound a bit more positive here!

We had a better night too. He woke at 4.30 which is already better than it had been by miles and then after a quick dummy input he stayed asleep until 6.30 this morning! So today I'm going to do the same - try to watch the legnth of his naps and keep on top of the antihistamines this evening.

Thanks for all the sympathies. I guess usually I'm fine with the whole thing, it's just every now and again it gets on top of me. He does seem comfier this morning which is a good thing!

Morning all Just had a lovely surprise! You know that ds was off his food and back to ebf, well I just had a newborn nappy! It's really put a smile on my face as I missed them so much! But he's back to solids this morning, which is good of course, but back to the horrid nappies again. Oh well, at least he's on the mend!

Aw, I miss the peanutty-smelling newborn nappies too. [wistful]

Ooh nice one Jen :) Perhaps DS sensed you needed a little grown-up time!

I'm flagging today. Think DS maybe has a fourth tooth on the way as he's being so grizzly and clingy. After 3 days of having DH around, I'm feeling a bit bleh today with him back at work. I only have 2 weeks of leave left and I know I should be enjoying every second :(

Little BLW question if I may? Been offering DS finger foods most days for a month or so now, and while little bits and bobs are appearing in his nappy I'm sure it's more accident than design. He seems to bite off pieces, 'chew' them, but then spits them back out. I'm guessing that's normal...? We've been giving him a bit of rice pudding etc for dessert via spoon, that wouldnt affect how he handles solid bits would it?

Sorry for dumb questions, this weaning lark is stressing me out!

Another rubbish night with DD waking every 45minutes or so... I stopped doing the NCSS stuff (pantley pull off, putting her at a little distance) etc at about 3am to try and get some sleep...

To be honest I don't really need to do the Pantley pull off as as soon as she has finished feeding she thows herself off and rolls onto her back, so doesn't really fall asleep on the nipple...

Tickle- ime totally normal!

LWL- have u logged her sleep patterns etc yet? Maybe take a step back and do this to make life easier in the long run? Otherwise, implement a strict routine (pattern of events) and go from there??
I found if I started the routine, around the time ds was naturally tired, it came easier, and eventually earlier. Ds now goes down quite reliably at around 7 every night- when I started, it was around 10. Maybe u are already doing this?

Yes have logged and she goes to sleep reliably enough 6.30-7pm. That's not the problem. It's the waking!

Have always had a good bedtime routine and TBH we already do most of what she suggests - put her down sleepy for the first sleep, not asleep. Naps in different ways. Last hour before bed is calm and quiet etc - been doing all that since 12 weeks...

we had a slightly better night - only 4 night feeds instead of 7! I make him sleep in his cot for the first bit of the night so I can have some "me time" in the evening otherwise I'd go mad. I take him into the spare room bed at around midnight and we co-sleep from that point. I have a feeling when he starts nursery he'll start reverse cycling, so I've made the spare room bed really comfy for us - I've put a folded duvet onto the mattress to give my hips some extra padding and I don't ache nearly as much when I wake up.

I think he's getting his top teeth through, he bit me for the first time yesterday and my poor nipple is still really sore. He was just falling asleep so it was my fault for not unlatching him in time, but it means every time he latches on the right side it's toe-curlingly sore :(

He's not making any attempt to crawl but when he's sitting he rocks himself backwards and forwards - when he does it in the bath he can shuffle along the whole thing, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was a bum-shuffler rather than a crawler!

DS chews food then spits it out too tickle, I don't always see it coming out of the other end either so I'm not convinced anything is really going in but I'm hoping he "gets it" soon - apparently most babies do around 8-9 months.

I miss those newborn nappies Mampig! DS's smell like catfood now

I really wish I could get DD to sleep in the cot for the first bit of the night! She just wakes every 10mins if I'm not right up against her... I'll keep trying though....

Aaargh! Not sure I can keep up with this curtailment of his naps. He's had less than 2 hours today - I woke him up from one tbut the other he woke himself up from and now he's vile. Just vile. Howling and refusing to be comforted. If this is what it takes to achieve better nights then I'm not sure it's worth it!

Oh bugger it. I'm going to get him ready for bed. He'll never last til 7!

Oh bugger it indeed. Just re read ds's letter re his skin tests for Weds. No anti-histamines for 48 hours beforehand. We're doomed. I'll be a zombie and ds will be a bleeding mess