Further freakingly fantabulous adventures of the 40+ Mummies Part 2

[blueblackdye]

Our 2nd thread is full but it won't prevent us from laughing, moaning, keeping on supporting each other, sharing and chatting over our new life with 1 or 2, even 5 children !
Here you go, fantastic 40+ Mums, a brand new thread for all of us, old friends from the pregnancy thread or new joiners

so yesterday she slept approx 12-3? Did she then sleep again before 6?
If not she v likely ot, as you say.

When T was that age I started cluster feeding around 4-5pm, and walked or fed him for a nap ideally between 4 and 5 to get him through to bed time. I tried to put him down approx 7-8 pm in those days, though variable in success he wad nearly always asleep by 8.30pm, and since
4m that has got much nearer 7pm. Not sure if that approach makes sense?

sorry last message was for Pudding

like Rosie I did and still do bath at 6pm and quiet time and last feed and wind in bedroom from half 6

For A, at 8 weeks, I fed her around 3.30pm, put her down for a nap at 4ish, she would sleep for about 45', then bath around 6, 6.30 feed for the night, she would sleep until 10.30/11 .... I remember that well as DS started French school then and I had to pick him up at 4.20 everyday and 7pm was bedtime for him so A had to fit around her brother's routine.
I found that the EASY approach worked well for A. Although Y was more DS' time than mine but with 2, what else could I do ?! :)

It is photography day today at nursery. We managed to have a whole week free of bumps and bruises (touch wood here)! At least A won't have a yellow mark on the forehead.... I dressed her in Kenzo Baby for the occasion, maybe I was too arrogant here :(

Off cooking now. Freezer needs filing.

Yes she slept probably 4:30 - 6 and then brief snoozes. She's so awake through the evening I'm not sure how to shift her body clock. DH gets home at 8ish. Generally she stays downstairs til c 11pm when I take her up.

Also. Pre 6 months aren't you meant to be with them? I'm not sure how the SIDS risks are with a monitor. I'm so flipping clueless

Ladies, A has a wooden walker, very steady, if anyone is interested. A has used it when she started standing up and later walking. i will upload a pic of it on my profile later on. A says she is happy to pass it to her baby friends on this thread !

Another disastrous day where plans fail to materialise - DD awake since 4.30am and the morning passed in a blur of fog and indecision (with me feeling like I'm being held responsible, as always)

On way to local pool then picnic at NT property - that will be good enough I think

As for small babies and sleeping in the evening, I remember DD acting like she had an itchy brain - vaguely recall her staying in lounge til our bedtime. And then one day they start going to bed early!

At the 4/5/6mo stage, I made the most of her late bedtime and got out and about in the eves - now I'm tied to the house 7 onwards!

In other news, figgy porridge fingers went down a storm

Rosebud weighed in at 10lb14 less than i thought but still a good gain. Oh the most embarrassing thing happened. .. clinic was really busy once baby's are weighed you return to your seat to dress them. This was fine and I gave her a bit of boob... she was happily yum yuming away when she decided to spit nipple out and as i lifted boob to put it back In she moved her head and an arc of bm sprayed the baby next to us. OMG! I didn't stay for singing group.

pudding, to be honest you are v much best judge of what is best for babyPud (love this name ) so anything I or others say should be tossed into the mix and you will find a mixture that is special to you two (er, and dh ) When I read the eve.ing I wonder if a shorter afternoon nap might help her settle earlier and do a proper sleep. The cat napping and crying date 8pm could actually be OT. or let her do the longer nap at 4 or 5pm.but then do a bed time at say 8pm, maybe playing around with that until you find a sweet spot. I just took T into our room (his bedroom was ours too until last night, in answer to your other Q) and then fed and put him down sometimes I hqd ro cet up and féed again and put down again, but always in dimly lit bedroom with no playing and trying usually in vain to keep DD at bay. Babies vary massively in sleep.needs but more usually better than less and they often do need relearning to settle and stay asleep. I don't like crying solutions so have always introduced signals in the form of routines v early to give them plenty of time to work. As Eagle says all systems have pluses and minuses. Though having met babyEagle I'd say life with her is just one big plus

Hope you don't mind me throwing in an idea. If it sounds rubbish ignore it and I'll be no e the wiser!!

Take good care xxx.

Eagle hope swimming was fun and your day improved. Remember if dh wanted something to happen/ get somewhere HE could have sorted baby eagle while you got yourself sorted. Banish the guilt.

Pudding as scarecrow said all babies are different. I've tried to avoid routine as I'm not very consistent. Rosebud though Iit would seem likes a bit of structure! ! It's tough too when your dh doesn't get in till 8. Dh got upset when dd started to want/need to go to bed at 6.30. He only gets to spend an hour or so with her.
Dd is in our room and i and dh pop in ( obsessively) to check on her. She just doesn't like the noise in the evening, tv on. Dinner cooking, dh on phone gabbing loudly in Arabic!!! (Why do they have to shout )

today I discovered the 8th circle of He'll: it is an endless horizon filled with toddler birthday parties which last in perpetuity.

Scarecrow that is one of the things I'm not looking forward to as DD grows up (along with school gates, catchment areas, playdates, party bags etc). I'm sure things were much simpler when I was a child showing age now

Today worked out really well in the end - went to pool and had it to ourselves which was nice. Then off to posh NT gardens and set up picnic next to beautiful giant ornamental pond. We kept getting buzzed by a pair of massive green/blue dragonflies, so I grabbed Freddie the Firefly from the pushchair and he confronted them (he was just protecting DD of course). Then DP took DD over to the pond and sat her on the edge so that she could see into the water and splash her feet. 20 minutes later he realises her trousers are soaked through and we left her spare clothes in the car so the poor thing had to go bottomless save for a blanked wrapped around her legs - parenting fail!

DP gone out on his bloody bike just in case I try to pin him down re organising this naming celebration. And of course once DD is in bed he'll be too tired to talk about it...

Scarecrow what a lovely thing to say about DD! Life would be even better if we could get her to bed before 8pm, which is currently her falling asleep time. How on earth do we bring it forward to 7pm? Your advice re babies and sleep has always made sense - we lived by the 90 minute rule after you mentioned it on this thread

Rosie awesome work at the baby clinic! We're not very good at routine either, and like you had the agony of balancing DD's need for bedtime with DP's arrival home.

Gosh is that the time already - it must be bedtime, only we've just got home and have only given DD a porridge stick for dinner...

Porridge fingers rule! !!! Love em baby monkey loves em! !!

Mummy taste tested porridge fingers and think they r the best thing ever thanks somewhere
Report from baby monkey. Mummy took me to nursery I cried as a missed her when she left but nice lady made me smile. Had some food but too sleepy so went to sleep my sleeping friend woke me crying so I played and had some lunch then played with rice then had everything I could find in my mouth then I had some cucumber daddy came I cried so happy to see him then we went in his big red car and mummy was home and o got a big cuddle and lots of kisses. Happy day to be baby monkey. Mummys feet hurt as she was on them all day daddy should rub them. Fat chance

Oh, and what is the 90 minute thing? X

Gah, my entire post disappeared

Didn't want to derail the thread with my woes but I'm thinking I need to a) stop her sleeping so long in the morning and wake her after 2 hours b) introduce a little structure in the afternoon rather than complete AP approach c) introduce some structured activity in the hour before bedtime (yoga/massage etc?) and d) start to bring the time I take her up forward by 15 mins every day or three until we get to 8/8:30 bedtimes.

My fear is she'll sleep 8-12 and then be awake all night. At least 5 of 7 nights she'll go 1-4:30 ish...

#sigh

Pudding we muddled through at this stage as nothing seemed to make any difference, but then I don't think we put much effort into changing anything as were too focused on feeding problems. I'm sure someone will be along soon to give better advice..

As for the 90 minute thing, once a small baby has woken up, there's only 90 minutes until they will need to sleep again. Once we realised this, we could trace a lot of the fretfulness back to tiredness rather than hunger, as we had previously been doing.

LRM glad 2nd day at work went ok - although foot rub should be compulsory?

Was just telling DP how the porridge finger went down really well at dinnertime and then noticed the bastard thing lying on the carpet. By the way, mine were a teeny bit soggy so put them under the grill for a couple of minutes! DP thinks they would make great snacks to go cycling with...

PS Baby Seaside 1 year old yesterday!!

How amazing that a whole year has passed since her dramatic and unexpected entrance into the world. Sadly she has a D&V bug this week so cannot celebrate but I hope to see the Seaside family next week

Pudding. My thoughts at the moment re routines are. . Try them all see which works, keep doing what works ( what makes baby stop crying) and be prepared for it not to work next time. I also noticed that rosebuds signs have changed. .. arm wave means boob. Stare into space means you've got about 3 mins till I'm ot. Totally agree with the 90min rule. Even if it's just a nap

Thanks everyone

Oh i also never wake rosebud unless necessary ( move from bed to car chair) babies grow while they sleep. I don't think you can bank waking hours. Shorter naps am here mean grumpy afternoon/evening.
Re structured activity. .. I have a few games we play
( top and tail. singing baby songs, dancing, a walk, play mat time.. swing chair) we do something each 90 mins for aas long as it's entertaining baby. Bum change and fed and it's nap time again. ( no wonder i never get anything done! !! Our baby's are still SO small :) trust your instincts you'll be fine. please note this is just how i try to parent. You will find your own
style. As scarecrow says use what suits ignore the rest. X Have you tried drying dd with hair dryer? ?? Rosebud loves it.

Loved baby LRMs post. . What a lovely day for a little man. :)

X posts. ..

Babies grow while they are asleep? What will happen when BG starts sleeping properly?! He is sprouting in all directions as it is...

Thank you for the flowers scarecrow - much appreciated as it is usually the singer who gets them!