BF in the middle of the night thread...how to stay awake!

[MummyPigandDaddyPig]

( distributes tea biscuits and nursing pillows allround....)

How do yo stay awake at night feeding??? Am struGgling to stay awake and have a sore thumb from playing solitaire on the iphone...alternates with reading muMsnet, daily mail and facebook....

What else is easy reading websites, games apps that dont require any brainpower that I cana entertain myself with? Any tips how to stay awake? Am seriously tired here!

Have cosleept with my dc's from approx 8-10 weeks, which makes night feeds easier, but I have weeks to go until then and wont dare to bedshare yet as older dc's still turn up in qour bed at night....

And btw PI Babylon!!! I've been lurking on LouP's threads since the start, and I think it's lovely how much you're helping her out! The wonders of MN! :o

Hi all,

Well after DS's brilliant night two nights ago, the following night was predictably awful! He managed 2 hours, then we seemed to be up for the next 4 or 5 (bar a 30 min kip I think) until I managed to get another 2 hours in after 6:30 when DH came in and managed to settle DS.

My sleep deprived brain in the middle of the night forgets that if DS is being difficult, putting him in bed next to me is pretty much guaranteed to calm him into sleeping for longer... But I only tend to think of that at 7am!

Thankfully tonight he has been better, and we've had 11:30, 2:30 and 5:30.

Minipopsmum that's about the formula. I hope the neonatal nurses / consultant have some good advice / recommendations, and do persevere with the expressing, as often as you can. Did you see any sort of breastfeeding counsellor or lactation consultant? They would be best placed to help you if you want to try and improve the bf side. It is possible to establish bf, even now, but it will take an awful lot of hard work and determination - life might become totally dictated by feeding for a while!

Babylon I am very very on your behalf. That is very much something my DH would do and it makes me really cross. I hope you show him the sharp side of your tongue this morning and he is suitably ashamed of himself.
DH was awful at university - he'd go practically comatose and lie in the centre of the bed so I had no space to sleep. I'd kick him really hard (really hard) and he wouldn't even notice. And he'd get the hiccoughs, which drove me mental. So infuriating. Oh and I sincerely hope he will be made to clear up his own vomit!!!

Good luck with the weigh-in today Sarita! (and fingers crossed for no poonami )

Right, DS has just done a copious amount of vomiting as usual, and some of it got on the mattress again, in my sleeping spot . No matter how strategic I am with muslin placement, he seems to get past it!

Time for another couple of hours sleep I hope. Off to the park for a picnic with a friend today, I hope the weather is ok!

And btw PI Babylon!!! I've been lurking on LouP's threads since the start, and I think it's lovely how much you're helping her out! The wonders of MN! :o

Whoops- stupid phone- didn't mean to post same twice!!!

babylon

Men really can be complete cocks sometimes. I hope he is suitably mortified when he wakes up.

Babyloo has not gone more that 2.5 between feeds tonight sarita, he will do 3.5 in the day though.

Have a good day everyone

Uh oh!!! Poonami before the weigh in- as predicted!!!

Oh sarita
Hopefully won't make too much difference to the weight gain

Oh and DH has complete memory loss

In that case Babylon, feel free to "elaborate" on his behaviour to make him feel as bad as possible

And get him scrubbing that vomit!!!!

What's going on with the babies!! Baby susieloo woke up straining and obviously really struggling with his tummy and flatly refused to be put down so has been falling asleep on me all morning for little naps, he's finally gone down now for hopefully a long nap so he might wake up in a better mood.

How was the weigh in Sarita?

tea did you get anymore sleep and how was the picnic, it's been torrential rain here

Hope you've had some rest today babylon and hope dh's hangover hasn't been too annoying.

How is minipop doing?

We are going home today as dss is hopefully no longer contagious, dp has been bollocked by his work for taking time off to look after his son (no one else able to have him) so I hope he's got a job to go back too tomorrow

Quick update.......

DH has been more hungover today than I've ever seen in over 12 years!

I didn't need to elaborate or exaggerate his bad behaviour, my best friend came and bollocked him big time for his behaviour last night. She wasn't happy at being propositioned by him and was quite happy to tell him so.

DH suitably meek and quiet all day.

He has cleaned his sick off the bedroom carpet though and left a fucking big clean patch meaning I have to do the rest of the carpet now

Sorry ladies havent posted for a while, still lurking and following your adventures though!! Babypiglet is now 12 weeks and mummypig is feeling very grateful as she sleeps from 10-6 and rarely stirs in the night. As im getting a bit of sleep life just seems to roll on much better and im really enjoying her now! She has settled on her weightcurve and smiles and gurgles and LOVES the rainforest mobile just like her brothers did. No tricks to the sleeping through, im gobsmacked as DS1 didnt sleep through until he was 2 and DC2 still wakes and both sleepwalk into our bed at night...I do try to be on the sofa by 8 and just keep her on the boob as much as I can in the evening so she is full up for bed. Easier said than done with bedtime and cleaning and everything else.

Tea, ask away re carrycots!! Just been away with all 3 DC's and airline lost Our huge double pram. I wasnt very impressed....the loan pram they offered looked like something out of a skip so i asked to see a single one, which was one of these cheap umbrellaprams that I strapped DC2 in, and he stood up and tried to walk whilst pram was still attatched....hes 2. So baby lived in the sling for days and my back is knackered!:) good trip though!:)
I have a pram travel bag, its fab as they dont weigh them so i put the pram, blankets nappies wintercoats, whatever is bulky and soft , in there which leaves space in your suitcase. The carrycot i wrapped in a large binliner, wrap with tape and again stuff with soft stuff for protection. This time to make it easier I bought a phil and ted soft coocoon off ebay which folds to that it fits in the travelbag, saved space and hassle!!! they go for about 15 pounds on ebay so my plan is to sell it on as soon as its not needed.

Well all that advice is all good and well as long as they dont loose the pram...nappies and coats...Luckily we just had it delivered back to us from its lonely holiday, god knows where its been!

Hope you all get a good night!

Evening all! Another 5.5oz weight gain- yey!

Oh dear Babylon- sounds like your DH deserved to be suitably meek and quiet all day...! I hope he's been on his best behaviour looking after you and baby Babylon??!!

Hope baby Susie has a better night, and minipop and baby tea.... Just fed periwinkle and she hardly woke up during or after.... Was very cute and I wish she was like that all the time!!!

Yey Sarita, poonami didn't affect weigh in then!!!!

Thank goodness no!! :o

soooo pleased she's finally gaining more! Still tiny for 13 weeks corrected, but getting there! I just hope she starts going a bit longer overnight, it's now just short of 6 months, and I'm longing for longer than 3 hrs at a time...! Mummypig- yey for baby piglet going through! :)

We have a phil and teds cocoon- it's brilliant!

Can't keep my eyes open long enough to use keyboard on my phone!

I know the feeling SusieLoo

Sooooo tired here my eyes actually hurt.

Yay sarita great news. Babylon hope your not-so-DH is making it up to you? I am not a fan of men at the moment as my DP isn't helping out very much with night feeds, so I think he's a git! :o

thanks for asking susieloo Minipop isn't getting better. I am so so tired. We had crying non stop from about 5:30pm until about 9pm due to tummy & wind issues. And probably colic, too. So challenging.

Every feed has become a battle :( this is so not fun. Am hoping consultant will bring neonatal appointment forward.

Glad your little one is sleeping well mummypig, please send some sparkly sleeping dust this way :o

tea fingers crossed for more longer nights :) how was park?

Minipop isn't enjoying the heat, ee've had to strip him just to a vest & scratch mits for sleeping.

Brilliant news sarita

I'm loving the idea of sparkly sleep dust

I'm not a fan of men either, dp issued with an ultimatum about going into work today, dss is going to his nans house so dp can go in but he's not handling the situation very well so I think they may try and get rid of him anyway

Think baby susieloo is into the delights of colic too minipop he screamed, fed, strained from six until ten thirty last night, for the first time I left him to cry for five minutes to see if he was exhausted enough to fall asleep, he was exhausted but didnt fall asleep and was flailing his arms around poking himself in the eye, I couldn't stand it he then did a four hour sleep, already dreading tonight. I've stocked up on infacol

Have a good day everyone

Mummypig! Glad babypiglet has been sleeping well and that's why we've not seen so much of you

Thanks for the tips - I didn't think of putting stuff in the pram bag! Cunning I think I'd better get some bubble wrap to cover the carrycot with, I don't want it to get all bashed up
Sorry they lost your pram but glad its been returned at last! I really don't understand how they manage to lose things nowadays, considering the technology they have in baggage tracking (although I bet the mistakes are nearly always due to human error)

for periwinkle's weight gain sarita! I hope she will be able to do some longer sleeps for you soon, I think there is only so long were can cope with this lack of sleep! Hopefully she'll reach a point where her tummy is big enough to take on enough milk to see her through for longer.

minipopsmum sorry that feeding is becoming such a challenge and that is awful that they can't get you an appointment before September! Would it be worth calling someone like Bliss to see if they have any advice? Minipop is such a little cutie, I hate to think of him so uncomfortable and it must be awful for you to watch (((big hug)))

Susieloo I really hope your DP's work aren't silly enough to try and get rid of him over this, surely that's not legal? If they do, I hope he goes and gets some legal advice.

Picnic yesterday was lovely Haven't seen my friend for about two months, so it was lovely for her to see how much DS has grown and changed. We were in Richmond Park, saw the deer, had our picnic, went for a little walk and finished off with an ice cream

Off on another picnic tomorrow to meet my antenatal thread ladies, woo! It's going to be a scorcher though...

Evening all

tea just seen on another thread that you have and recommend the saplings space saver cot, I think I'm going to try and move the baby into a cot in the next couple of weeks, he seems to have outgrown his Moses basket really quickly but we are so short on space I need a really small cot but not one that I'll need to replace in six months, do you think yours will last a while?

Not bad going tonight but im starting to worry that babyloo will only sleep on me, he's fine in the day in his pram and playmat but at night when I put him in his basket he gets into a right state and seems really panicky until I pick him up then he falls asleep on me then I put him down and he starts again and this goes on and and on. Hoping it's a phase!

Hope you all have a good night, see you around four

Oh and dp's work said nothing today apart from asking how dss was, they sent a text yesterday saying "need you in tomorrow, arrange childcare" seemed to be an ultimatum (done by text-nice!) he hasn't seen the big boss yet so he's expecting something to be said about it, I agree I'm not sure it's legal but they are a tiny company, there's only four employees, and they don't seem to have any sort of working practice. If they do decide to let him go we will definitely seek legal advice.

Yes Susieloo I think it ought to be ok til least 1 but I don't really know how big one year olds are to be fair - although it is smaller than the average cot, it is still pretty spacious? It's 96cm long by 58cm wide. It's also quite nice looking without being really expensive - DH was quite fussy about what it looked like but I wasn't prepared to pay crap loads!

We're planning to keep DS in it in our room, and hopefully he will still use it when he moves to his own room and we can then go straight to a cotbed when he outgrows this one.

Yawn Anyone else up feeding? :) MiniPop doesn't like the heat at all.. and it's roasting in our flat - 26oC :(