May Babies... part 2!

[GeorginaA]

... just because we can't stop yammering on

kbaby, you're just like me - thats what i ask people.

dd went to sleep at 7.45 tonight, gave her another bottle of ebm, she took 5oz tonight and a bit from me too, so fingers crossed....will let you know kb!

we also have to let dd fall asleep in arms. when we put her down she often wakes as is not q asleep, but i hold her still so she falls back off again! nasty mummy! still swaddling.

Way hay... Maclaren quest quest a success. s'brilliant. so glidy. DD likes it and I am well pleased.

Now I'm going to phone up about one of those bakpack carriers for long walks for next year...

good news on the maclaren. mil gave us her neighbours second hand buggy - dont even know the make, and no swivel wheels. not impressed.

kbaby - dd woke at 11, fed like mad, woke at 2.30, 6, 7.45, so don't know what happened there. no 2 nights are alike. will perservere with the bottle of ebm for the time being though. the hv said that she might get nipple/teat confusion and go off the breast, so this is a concern now! but i dont think she will. she has had the odd bottle since she was a week old. now at 12 i think she knows the difference.

just got back from day in town... all spent with our maclaren friend. unfortunately dd has not mastered sleep in it... cried pitifully until lifted out, then immediately went to sleep on my shoulder. now that she has clocked up her first stone on t he weight front my arm can't take the pace any more so we'll have to persevere. outside of naps it was a great success...

Quiet.....

aren't we?......!

I have been trying to give DH more attention, so have't dared to log on! He says that all I talk about is children. I have told him that at the moment, that is all I have to think of

I've been out tonight, lucky me girl from work is leaving and they were having a meal out so I went along as well, had a great meal caught up on all the gossip then met my friend for a quick drink before going home. It's so nice to be me for a change.

Going out tomorrow night with Dh he has the night off has lined up his mum to babsit and he's taking me out for a meal, I think, will probably be my birthday,valentines,mothersday and anniversary meal all rolled into one but who cares it's another night out so I won't complain.

And dare I mention it but I'm going out next Saturday night as well for my friends birthday. She's making us all dress up in 70's clothes! have no idea why and to be honest I'm not very comfortable with the whole idea but it's her birthday. Dh says it will be ok for one night and that I shouldn't complain about having to dress up but I'm not really looking forward to that part of it, still it will be good night out.

dd's are both fine. Dd1 has loved being back at school and seeing all her friends. Dd2 doesn't seem to be to fazed by the fact that dd1 isn't there during the day. And it's so nice to be able to go out and meet the other mums at school and gymnastics and ballet. Didn't see anyone over the summer so we've been catching up on all the news.

Weather has got a bit better now as well seen a bit more sun over the past few days which is nice.

hope you are all well

Egypt, Ive given DD ebm since she was 4 weeks old and also a dummy. My hv said that they sometimes get nipple confusion before 4 weeks old but after that time breastfeeding is established and so it shouldnt cause a problem. She told me to use the smallest hole teats dd would accept. This makes it harder to suck and so would ensure dd didnt see a bottle as a easy way to get milk and better than the breast.

I caved in and swaddled last night. DD was very restless and woke at 1.30 for a feed and then was doing her half asleep/half awake routine until 3.30. I shut her door and ours and turned the monitor down and I could still hear her moaning. I went in and tried to rock her into a deeper sleep but once I put her down she started again. Her hands grab her hair and ears etc. After 3 hrs of lying in bed listening to her I gave in and swaddled her. She fell straight off into a deep sleep. Why cant I sleep like a bloke, Dp doesnt seem to hear any of this.

nothing wrong with swaddling kbaby. they'll grow out of the need one day soon. we'll go in one night and find them completely unswaddled and fast asleep....thats my dream anyway!

dd slept from 7.15 until 1am. woke at 2 for a re-swaddle and a touch of mummy's nipple - then fast asleep! went through til 5 for a feed then woke at 6.20. was famished - so fed - very strange. the woke at 8.30.....niiice. wasnt so bad as i went to bed at 8!

DD seems to be in a particularly cry-y state these days... the slightest thing seems to set her off. Particularly boredom. But not always fathomable. It's not nice... I would go so far as to say that her default state is angry crying. Last night dh was out for the evening and I got to thinking 'what am I doing wrong?' and 'does this baby actually like me?' - both thoughts I try not to think. 'Why why why' is safe enough so I try and think that instead. Hard work. She is not very happy at the moment. (Tho' fine at the moment, kicking nappyless in her cot in the sun... but who wouldn't be??!)

Perhaps she is beginning some teething? But no sign of tooth!!

spots dd was the same when first born and it is frustrating not knowing what's the crying about. luckily the phase has ended now and only happens some days. most of our crying now is due to tiredness in the evenings or being left alone on her gym for too long.
poor dd spent all afternoon beng traipsed around car garages while i looked for a new car. finally decided on a renult scenic. thought as i had dd id better do the family thing and get a people carrier. ill be wearing laura ashley dresses and making homemade jam next

wheres everyone gone

I've been kicking around - currently having a "oh no, I'm getting everything wrong!" phase but hopefully it will pass soon. I just get nervous that I am instilling future problems into him and that I am not reading his language properly . . . .

He seems so hungry all the time at the moment, I still let him feed until he gets sleepy - then he goes into his basket and stays down with us until we go up (occasionally we take him up and put the monitor on). Plus we let him co-sleep with us every now and again, these habits are bad aren't they?

Argh! he is going to have bad sleeping patterns, be unable to go down on his own and tell everyone that his mother starved him. Sigh . . .

(thanks for letting me get all of that of my chest!)

Did I mention the very vague routine at the moment? although I blame that particular glitch on DP being off for the last two weeks, normal service will hopefully resume soon!

egypt i fed ds 3 bottles a day and 3 breastfeeds from 3 months to 6 months with no problem. And dd is currently feeding away despite he bottles of ebm. so dont worry. no time to post more now. will try later.

hi all
libb, dd won't be out to bed without a cuddle and a suck of my finger until she goes to sleep. rarely have i managed to leave her until she falls asleep herself. but i would advise starting the bedtime routine now. for us, i THINK it has finally worked.......dare i speak so soon? it took ...erm...well 12 weeks! she has her last nap of the day about 5pm, then bath at 6.30ish, bottle of ebm at 7 and bed. sleeps til 1-2am. well, this has been the general pattern for the last few nights, on and off. last night we stayed at some friends, and she went to bed like this. We had a chinese, wine, chat then went to bed about 11. she woke at 2am.....saying that she did then proceed to wake every HOUR, but, at least the bedtime routine seems to be working better!
not sure it will tonight though, havent managed to ebm today as been out. hmm, always a flaw in the plan somewhere.

dd hasnt had a poo since weds. was getting very worried. had her on my lap just a moment ago. then i put her on her playmat and went to get a yogurt from the fridge. my fingers felt wet, (must be the yogurt) so i licked them.......guess what? mmmmmmmm, yummy.....not. . burns the back of your throat and stains denim skirts and tshirts too - be warned yuk...sorry

EW! Didn't want to know that Egypt!

Ds2 being a bit unsettled at the moment, for no particular reason that we can see. Hasn't had a good LTN for a few days and is taking a good hour to settle in the evening. Other naps/sleeps seem unaffected. Very odd.

In other news, dh has not only managed to flood the bathroom trying to install a new towel rail, but today drilled through the bathroom wall right into ds1's room. sigh. Next time, we're hiring a decorator & plumber.

Eurgh Egypt . . . . that has scarred me for life!

DS does have a bedtime routine, he has a bath from daddy, into clean babysuit and then massive feed from me until he dozes off - he then goes into his basket in the living room and sleeps in there until we go to bed ourselves. Occasionally we put him up in the bedroom but only have the guts to do that when we know he is conked out for the night - he then generally sleeps through until 3.30ish. Has a feed and sleeps again until 7.30-8am. I suppose I can't complain with that routine! our biggest bugbear is that he only naps when I take him out in buggy so come 4.30-5pm he is cranky as a bear! Maybe this will improve when DP goes back to work - he has a tendency to wave toys at DS when I would just let him doze off!

I feel a bit happier as I have managed to give the bathroom a thorough going over (uncluding windows!) - amazing how these little things satisfy me now!

At least I didn't give my bathroom THAT kind of going over! hope you get it sorted soon GeorginaA. DS has been unsettled too - just when I think I have the whole baby language sussed it goes and changes!

you have nothing to worry about libb, especially is he's sleeping til 3.30! sounds like a perfect routine. maybe you could try putting his moses basket in his room when you put him in it at night. i reckon as long as you have a routine, no matter what it is, and baby knows it's sleep time then you're ok. i also co sleep sometimes, just to get a bit of peace....like 5am this morning!

just re-read my post re: poo. sorry that was horrid. it was only a tinsy wincy miniscule bit, honest. amazing just how potent can be though. sorry, dig dig dig.

dd sleep again at 7.30. i will have spoken to soon though, because bf her,not ebm. couldnt ensure she drank lots. blimey, the little treasure had 6oz last night. bless.

just watching corrie and then bed ZZZZZzzzz, dh is playing golf. AGAIN

I am quite enjoying our bedtime routine; at least once the crying stage of the evening is out the way. Today I had my mum in on it so that she can babysit DD and know how we normaly do things and it made me realise quite how routine it is! After bath at 7 ish we go through to dark room (pram by our bed is still her sleeping place), have massive feed (often 45 mins, still) and then I put dd down when she's still a little bit awake but drowsy. If she's really perky I will sing to her (poor child). She is really good at going to sleep but not so good at staying there as I think you know.

Having said that, we were at a wedding last night so the routine was out the window. DD was sweet, with wide eyes like a baby monkey clinging on. We did a family dance! soppy.

Not so much crying today. Both grannies visited; perhaps the excess of adoration had something to do with it...

God you all sound so organised. We have a bedtime routine although it doesnt always happen at the same times. DD normally naps at around 5 and then once dp gets home from work around 6.30 he baths dd and gets her into her sleepsuit, shes normally downstairs then when we eat dinner, at 7.30 i feed her and then we get her off to sleep by putting the dummy in and holding her, and then shes put upstairs. I go into her room then at 10.30 and wake her for a feed which i do in the dark. She normally wakes then at 2ish and 5ish. She wakes up at 7 where i drag her into bed, put her on the boob and she falls back asleep in bed with me until 9.30 I know i should really feed her in her room and put her back in the cot but i dont have the energy that early in the morning and so co sleeping is easier.

Our routine doesnt always follow these times. Sometimes dp is late home from work or dd wont settle and then bedtime becomes 9ish.
Tonight was; bath at 8,bed at 9. We went to the cinema and were late getting home.

We took dd swimming today. I looked into the fact she was only 12 weeks and hadnt had all her jabs and the govenment website and other people have said it was ok. She loved the pool but hated the shower. She looked so lush in her little swimming costume.

Does the ebm before bed work?

Well, dh and I went out last night. Didn't go for a meal as dh didn't think that his pay would have gone in, it had but by the time we found out it was to late to book anywhere. Another time perhaps.

So we went for a couple of drinks and ended up in the restaurant where Dh works. Mil was babysitting dd2 and dd1 was at my granny's as usual. When we got home Mil had gone to bed in dd1's bed since it was empty, not a problem.

Dd2 woke up at 8.30am and I fed her then she went back to sleep. So dh and I had a long lie then dd1 came home around 11am. So we're all up in the living room and Mil comes in and says oh dd2 is up she went back to sleep after her 6am feed! Dh and I looked at each other and said what 6am feed?

Mil had heard dd2 stirring at 6am and got up and came into our room and got her and fed her then put her back to bed! OMG!!!
Dd2 must have been hungry because Mil said that she took the whole bottle but somehow I don't think she had actually woken up for a feed. I think she'd probably just woken up was chattering away to herself and Mil heard her and thought she needed fed. I often hear dd2 stirring but I only get up to her if she gets a bit more vocal, along the lines of I want fed and nobody is paying any attention to me. She often wakes up and lies happily in her moses basket for ages before she wants fed. She took another 4 feeds during the day and went to bed at 8pm as usual but I wonder if she's going to get up at 6am tomorrow looking for another feed since she got one today. I feel awful but I know that if she had been really vocal about wanting fed I would have heard her, dh usually sleeps through her crying for feeds but I always hear her.

Other than that bizarre incident the rest of the day was pretty good. Did the shopping, took dd1 to McDonalds, had a nice relaxing day. Going to go to bed soon as got to get up early for school tomorrow and I'm really tired after being out so late last night.

Oh was talking to one of the mums at school who's baby is 9 months old and still doesn't sleep through the night, I felt really bad when she then asked me how dd2 was doing through the night, I just looked at my feet and mumbled that she was sleeping through and has been for a few weeks now. He doesn't eat either apparently, he's still on 4 month food as he's not very keen on eating, you wouldn't know it to look at him though as he's a happy chubby baby, wouldn't smile at dh the other morning though just looked at him suspicously, lol

OMG LINNET!!! Did you mind much that she fed her? I would have gone MENTAL. mil is a pain in the bum most of the time, but if she took over and fed without us knowing .......jeeeez. well, i guess she was only trying to help, but if it's not the way you do things...

i am now totally convinced that ebm is the way forward 100%. as i said didnt manage to express yesterday so she just bf. and woke at 11.30. 2 and a half hours earlier than when ebm'd. hence am expressing today. just dont know how to get through the rest of the night, as she wakes frequently after that feed - again bf. wonder if should give her a bottle in the night too, but really don't want to. do i just wait and wait until she sleeps through? linnet you are very lucky and all those who's little ones are sleeping through.

mil is babysitting on thurs and i am worrying about it like mad. you prob remember me saying how dd screams like never before when she's with her and mil cannot console her whatever she does. i always have to take her off her - before she completely becomes unable to breathe! havent shared these fear with dh, as i know he will become defensive of mil. have said to him that she is inconsolable with her, but he just goes 'she'll be ok. she's used to your mum, not mine'. but i dont know how i can go out and not worry like mad. this is bothering me so much, that i feel sick if i know she is coming round, even just for the afternoon when i am there. i even talked about it with the hv. seriously, i am going insane. she is just so possessive with her, i dont get a look in, even when she is consolable until i take her off her. i offer advice about how to hold her, but nothing works for her. my plan on thurs is to bath and bed her before we leave. that should be ok, but i can just imagine that dd will sense my urgency and not sleep. oh god. what to do?