June 10 babies have arrived. Now we are all sleep deprived!

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Welcome to 'the other side' ladies. Long may we all continue to post!

ARRIVALS
27/04 (due 23/06) - SunshineDay - Faye - 3lbs 2oz
16/05 (due 02/06) - Meggymegmegs - James (Jimmy) David, 7lb 1oz
19/05 (due 01/06) - whenwillisleepagain - Alice Emily, 8lb 7oz
21/05 (due 21/06) - Gizmo - Hester Rose - 6lbs
23/05 (due 9/06) - greensnail, Alice Elizabeth, 7lb 2oz
24/05 (due 8/06) - Saucepanman, Gabriel, 8lb 4oz
24/05 (due 31/05) - minimoonumber2, Sebastian Robin
26/05 (due 24/06) - GibberingGinger James Alexander, 5lb 13oz, & Douglas John, 5lb 15oz
28/05 (due 30/05) - GoodName, Fergus, 8lb
28/05 (due 31/05) - mampam, Tilly May, 9lb 11oz
28/05 (due 4/06) - jo807bump - Hannah May, 5lb 7.5oz
04/06 (due 07/06) - perkster - Sidney James Perkins Berner, 7lb 11oz
05/06 (due 31/05) - dinosaurinmybelly - Zoe Leila - 6lb 9oz
07/06 (due 02/06 ) - AlwaysHopeful - George, 7lb 13oz
07/06 (due 07/06) - MrsC09 - Rufus Jack
08/06 (due 01/06) - PogueMahone - Magnus Gabriel, 8lb 14.5oz
08/06 (due 11/06) - woofie - Laurence Elliot (Laurie) - 7lb 11oz
08/06 (due 21/06) - sunworshipper - Romola Ann Bettina, 5lb 15oz
09/06 (due 08/06) - LittleRobbo - Summer Dawn
09/06 (due 09/06) - Boobz - Constance Ella Reed,
11/06 (due 02/06) - Justbeme - 'Nobody' (boy) - 8lb 9oz
12/06 (due 02/06) - roundabout1 - Lauren - 8lb 14oz
13/06 (due 18/06) - Virgo1979 - nameless boy! 7lb 9oz
14/06 (due 30/06) - monthlymayhem - Hayden, 7lb
14/06 (due 08/06) - MrsAlwaysRight - Alice Rose, 9lb 7oz
14/06 (due 15/06) - Millymollymoo - boy
15/06 (due 31/05) - RnB - Artemis, 7lb 9oz
15/06 (due 29/06) - playftseforme - Rory 6lb 4oz, and Fergus 6lb 8oz
16/06 (due 17/06) - Chestnut100 - Daisy Belle 6lb 14oz
17/06 (due 01/06) - Madamfreckle - Emma 6lb 6oz
17/06 (due 30/06) - MonkeyMargot - Atticus Fox 7lb 8oz and Rafferty Bear 7lb 14oz
17/06 )due 04/06) - Suzy1975 - Samuel 7lb 14oz
18/06 (due 23/06) - earlyonemorning - Edgar William 7lb 8oz
18/06 (due 13/06) - sobloodystupid - Stella 8lb 8oz
19/06 (due 22/06) - Gaelicsheep - Robin 6lb 14oz
22/06 (due 14/06) - Fillybuster - Mia Rae 9lb 3oz
24/06 (due 16/06) - Nizzynoodles - Samuel James 10lb 10.5oz
24/06 (due 17/06) - summerhols - Lilly
25/06 (due 17/06) - Barbeasty - Ruth Damaris Rose, 9lb
26/06 (due 16/06) - JoKettle - James Lennox, 8lb 7oz
26/06 (due 29/06) - MrsDmamee - Elyssa, 8lb 5oz
28/06 (due 26/06) - imkeepingmum - girl, 7lb 11oz
28/06 (due 12/06) - Georgee - Anna Rose, 7lb 15.5oz
28/06 (due 12/06) - Elena67 - boy, 9lb 5oz
29/06 (due 17/06) - bluesnowfalcon - Corey, 8lb 11.75oz
29/06 (due 18/06) - theperfectbaguette - Clementine Jemima, 6lb
29/06 (due 26/06) - RubyReins - Luke Douglas, 7lb 14oz
29/06 (due 25/06) - Ilovemyterrier - Jeppe Sebastian Fagerlund, 7lb 6.5oz
01/07 (due 30/06)- LaTrucha - Daniel Timothy, 8lb 11oz
3/7 (due 29/06) - CantSleepWontSleep - Jeremy Francis, 9lb 4oz

Hi all. I joined Weight Watchers (again!) a couple of weeks ago, couldn't really get into the swing of things for the first 2 weeks but got into it over the last week and today when I weighed in I'd lost 3 and a half pounds so I've lost 5 and a half pounds in 3 weeks

Think I'm going to get the implant fitted but I've got to go to a family planning clinic to get it done. Haven't booked an appointment yet. DH is very keen to get back into the swing of things but I'm reluctant tbh.

Tilly's quite a good sleeper, usually she goes to sleep at about 8.30pm and wakes for a quick feed at about 3.30am but if she doesn't wake she usually sleeps until about 6am. I can definitely cope with that!

My two other DC's have been at their dad's for their annual 2 weeks holiday with him, and are due back at the weekend. DD is great with Tilly so I'll have my little helper back

Hmm I am starting to think Fergus is the worst sleeper on here. The earliest he will go to bed is 9.30 but it can be 10 or 11:30. He will wake up at least twice and then get up bewteen 6.30 and 7.00. I am hoping he just seems like the worst because only the people with good sleepers have the energy to post
He is however the cutest smiliest baby during the day and I love him loads

Goodname, I'm with you here. Ruth goes to bed at about 11, but that is sometimes in with me, still feeding. She usually wakes up at about 3 or 4 for feeding, sometimes about midnight too. Then we will get up any time from 6am (unless I'm so tired that we feed and snooze until much later!)

Monday night was the worst though- she went to sleep at 10, I got to sleep at 11 and then she woke up at 12.30. That was it. Feeding ALL night. I'm just recovering now!

Goodname, I think you're probably right about respective energy levels and posting...:) All babies are very different, so don't get comparative - there'll definitely be at least one out there who is sleeping soundly but grumpy and whingy (or colic-y) all day instead of being lovely and smiley like Fergus. And he will sleep eventually sometime :)

barbeasty that sounds like a bar-beastly night for you - hope you're feeling more human soon.
And goodname I'm sure things will improve soon. You sound very besotted which is lovely :-)

The boys are 8 weeks old today, time is flying by. Had their immunisations yesterday (both cried, whereas DD never did) and Atticus did 2-days worth of poo which shot out of his trouser leg, looking a lot like chicken korma, all over the floor of the nurse's room and me. Lovely!

I also had my Mirena coil fitted at same time - didn't hurt and so far just a little light bleeding but no cramps. Now there's no excuse not to be doing the deed...

Boys still being good. Each night they are lasting a little longer until they feed - last night was a personal best - from 7pm til 5am - hoorah.
To those with frequent night-feeders, you could try getting your LO to settle using a dummy before immediately offering the boob? It might delay feeding for another hour or so. Though the downside of that is that you are then awake waiting to see if they go back to sleep or are genuinely hungry.
Often Rafferty wakes at 2/3am and I resettle him using the dummy.

Went to the cranial osteopath today - a family appt for DD and the boys which was fun (and expensive).

Am thinking about childcare for when i return to work. To those with nannies, would you say it is too much for one nanny to care for 3 DCs? The twins will be 1 and DD 2.5 when I go back. DD will be going to nursery 3 mornings a week by then, increasing to more. But unsure as to how much a nanny can be expected to do?

I don't know about twins, which might be different, but I would expect a nannny to be able to look after 3 dcs - especially since the twins will be sleeping at least once, and probably twice, a day to start with which will give her time to do the dcs laundry, cooking etc when they're not demanding attention. Anyway, when you advertise the job you can specify that you want someone with experience of looking after 3 under 3, or 3 under 4, or twins or somesuch, and you can ask them how they handle multiple dcs when you interview them :) But in theory, that should be fine :)

goodname our sleep situation isn't much better than yours. The only difference is she settles earlier but, she also generally feeds twice between 11 and 6.30 when she's up for the day. I'm doing as monkeymargot suggests and trying her with her dummy before offering milk, which often buys us a bit more sleep and i'm getting quite good at leaning over and popping it in without really waking up.

good to hear the mirena coil fitting didn't hurt - am still feeling anxious about mine though.

I don't see why it would be too much for one nanny to care for 3 dc - we do it as mothers after all! And of course if one doesn't want to look after that many then they don't have to apply for the job!

Can I ask out of interest whether anyone else has a baby who loathes being in the carseat/car? Jeremy is still screaming for pretty much every second of every journey, and is hysterical by the time we reach our destinations. A nice cuddle with mummy makes it all better. I remember that ds1 was the same, but I can't remember how long it lasted with him. It's just the 'being separated from mummy' thing that is the problem.

CSWS could you turn the airbag off in the front of the car and have him next to you or would that not help? Never heard of babies hating the car before, its my easiest way to get Fergus to sleep.
I have tried the dummy and it works but only for about 15 mins at a time (sometimes longer) so its very tiring for nothing, doesnt seem to change anything the next night either. I use it when its been much less than 3 hours since last feed though.
Fergus is currently very unkeen to sleep as he has been sleeping all day (he screamed when I tried to wake him up during the day) Not looking forward to the night ahead.
I would think you might need to offer slighlty higher nanny wages to get a good one who would look after them all but I have no clue really so I could be wrong.

hello all. First post in ages - been lurking but just not got round to posting. Still everone else is asleep and I've finished expressing so I'm going to grab my time.

Well done mampam for gettin going on the weightloss. I lost 2 stone in the first 2 weeks by doing nothering but unfortunatly I've also still got another stone and a half to lose really and it's no longer just dropping off. When my mum was here and helping out I managed to do some yoga but since she's left I've done diddly squat. Well I bought a DVD "30 minute shred" - (has anyone done it?) - which has a women on the front with terrifying ab, but so far that's been collecting dust on the mantlepiece. I;ve been using my c-section as an excuse but now the 6 weeks is over I probably need to stop wearing my dodgy tracky bums just for comfort and face the music - and possibly stop walking round the house in a milk stained bra with my knockers hanging out.

God only knows how those of you with more than one child manage - I can't imagine having to do a school run.

Interesting to read everyones sleep experiences. Clementine's going down between 8-9 then I give her a dream feed before I go to bed around 11:30 then she's waking up for feeds at 3:30 ish and 8ish when I get her up and dressed for the day. Then she's usually conked out again by 9ish so she goes back to bed till about half ten or later. In fact looking at it she spends most of the first half of the day asleep! Swaddling has been a bit of a godsend for us to be honest as before she was waking herself up loads and I was up and down like a yo-yo in the night. I have to put her in it when she's already dropped off - following a tip from someone on here - it wakes her up but then I give her a bit more boob to send her off again, but it means that once she's down she sleeps really well.

I'm using a dummy too. (That resolution crumbed on day 2 of being home from the hospital)- though she's not always that keen on taking it so it's a bit hit and miss.

For the first 3 weeks or so whe was sleeping in her moses basket next to the bed but now she's in with me and DH has been relegated to the sofa bed, though I'm trying to get her back into the basket now with limited success. Before when I was sitting up for hours each night feeding her I was getting really knackered and I think my blood sugar levels were all over the place. Maybe 5 or 6 times I woke up to her for the 3:30 feed to find I was freezing cold and shaking so hard that my teeth were chattering and it felt like I had a really bad fever. Except I hadn't becuase it only lasted for about 1/2 an hour. The first time it happened I was still in hospital and I thought I'd got the ac up too high. I threw loads of blankets on the baby and staggered into the bathroom and sat on the loo with the hot shower on me for about 20 minutes becuase I couldn't stand up - the next time I managed to wake up DP who had to get out an extra duvet over me and keep rubbing me till I warmed up. I mentioned it to the doctor and she said it was just fatigue - it was grim and rather scary to be honest. Did ayone else have it? Anyway touch wood it's not happened for a couple of weeks so hopefully it's a thing of the past.

Also question for those of you who's babies are sleeping through. Did you find that they just took less and less at the 3:30 ish feed and then stopped waking up. Becuase Clemmies really just using my boob as a dummy now but stil waking up. I wander if I should not offer her the boob and just try and settle her by shushing her, ie. try and avoid moving her out of her cot as this is the time when she comes in with me normally. Suppose I should. Hmmmmmmmm

Sorry for the epic, rather self indulgent post.

baguette - i had that shivering thing a couple of times in the first or second week.

oops gotta go

Limited success to report on here - last night was the first one (7 weeks) that Mia didn't feed between 11-7.30am :) I say limited, as I still had to re-swaddle her at 3 and 6 when she had done her houdini imitation and got upset because her arms were flailing...and I (look away now if you're going to disapprove!) ended up dummying her 3 times at 6.00, 6.15 and 6.45 rather than feeding her. But (you can look again) she wasn't crying or asking to be fed, she was just being awake and a bit chatty and I was asking her nicely to go back to sleep - I was all geared up to feed her as soon as she sounded hungry and ended up lying in bed in my dressing gown and glasses for over an hour! In the end she was sleeping so deeply at 7.30 it took about 5 minutes to wake her for her feed

Last night was also the first time she took her ebm nicely from dh, so I'm hoping there's a causal connection....she downed 110ml in 5 minutes (it normally takes 40 mins to do half that), so I've provided 125ml for tonight :) Fingers crossed...

Baguette, I've found that its more about edging that 3.30am feed later (get it to 4, then 4.30 then 5 etc) until it starts being the morning feed, than reduccing it, but everyone has different experiences so it depends what works for you...

Right time to get my morning chores done and some makeup on....I am soooo desperate for a pedicure but won't take Mia into a nail salon because of the fumes and haven't yet left her with anyone for more than 10 minutes....maybe next week [hopeful]!

Hi All

hope everyone is good.

goodname I feel your pain its just not fun when baby wont sleep or sleep for long during mummys sleeptime.

I feel i can cope with screaming baby during the day but once its 9pm I just run out of steam.
Elyssa is still fighting sleep but last night was the 1st night we got her to sleep before 2/3am.
Most nights no matter what i do she has her screaming time from 9pm-12am...feed change wind etc..repeat..and still nothing works.

Im finding she naps better now during the 1st half of the day but by 6pm its difficult for her to drop off so its a long battle until 3am to get her to sleep longer than 10/20 mins.

barbeasty hope your managing to catch up on some sleep after that tough night

mampam well done on the weightloss. I too like others here seemed to have lost a stone immediately post birth but now nothing in a few weeks.
I'll have to increase my walks now than my SPD is almost gone

csws DS2 and DD both like the car but only when its moving(traffic is not fun)
DD is not too fond of the car seat, DH usually has her in front with airbag off with him as its too small for me in the back with 2 carseats and me in the middle. He does his best to keep her calm before we reach the motorway then she's happy

Im hoping to get my frontseat back soon

filly - you must buy one of these.

Hi everyone. Alice's sleep is kind of weird, I wonder if she sleeps less in 24 hours than most babies. At 12weeks she seems to have got the hang of day and night, but she is awake so much some days - maybe one hour's sleep in 12, 13 or even 14... She's been dropping off about 8 and will have 1 or 2 quick feeds during the night, except last weekend when she helpfully did 2x 9hr stints.

Went full of dread for weigh-in on Weds - based on unhappy memories of DS and HVs there. I wasn't really prepared for being told by HV that there is clearly problem with my milk supply, need to see GP, Alice was born on91st centile, now on 25th...how much milk can I express?... (like that tells you how much the baby can get out). Words like fail were used and I ended up feeling rubbish. I hadn't appreciated that Alice was on 91st centile at birth, and she has been following the curve of 25th quite closely, which I thought was fine. Have read lots of threads about this in bf section and found them reassuring. Will be good to discuss with GP though. HV wants me to express and top up each feed, which I'm not sure about - particularly as it was only last week I was asking you all for advice (thank you btw) on getting her to take bottle. Will perhaps go to bf group on Mon for the counsellor's thoughts.

Have a good weekend!

whenwillisleep :( that the HV made you feel rubbish. I think its quite common for babies to find their own place on the charts in the few weeks after birth. This might mean they end up following a much lower or much higher line than the one they were born on. Just because she was born on the 91st doesn't mean she's going to stay there. My DD1 was born on 50th then shot up to the 98th and followed that one. My Alice is also quite happily following the 25th centile.

Sounds like your Alice is doing fine. If she's alert, sleeping well, peeing and pooing fine it really doesn't sound as though there's anything to be worried about. Hope you have a sensible and reassuring conversation with the GP.

Whenwillisleepagain Ruth has done exactly the same, and went from 91st percentile for weight and head circumference to the 25th at last weighing/ measurement.

It took her 6 weeks to regain her birth weight, and I was sent to the GP when she was still under at 5 weeks.

My HV was quite clear that this was just a precaution though (in fact it was described at one point as ticking boxes due to their guidelines). As greensnail says, the main things are that she was alert and producing wet/ dirty nappies. It helps that we have had to go every week until last week due to the slow gain, so we know that she has gained at least 4oz each week for the last 3 weeks- this is considered to be ok.

The GP just asked if I had any concerns, and when I said no she said that she was happy too and just carry on doing what I was doing. So long as you are feeding on demand, and she is putting on weight there is unlikely to be a problem, but the HV said it was best to check there was no underlying reason for the slow return to birth weight.

Saw the doctor again on Wednesday for the 6-week check and everything was fine. Got to go for a weighing next week (in the afternoon, and she has her first injections in the morning) and if it is still ok we can cut right back.

I'd definitely get the BF counsellor's advice, if only to give you confidence before seeing the GP.

And I've just spent the last hour and a half expressing 3oz- and now Ruth has woken up wanting food...

And yes- I'm feeling much more awake. Coffee and cheesecake helps!

Mrs D dont think I have it as bad as you, I always end up taking fergus for a very long walk in the evening, this helps him get a nap and chills him out big time. We also give him a bath which helps chill him out too. He still has bad nights but not as many as he used to.
He has actually had a couple of very strange days today and yesterday, has been wanting to sleep all day, only happily awake for about 20-30 minutes at a time and then wants to sleep. His night sleep has been a bit better too. Cant work out what is going on, some kind of weird growth spurt? It was preceeded by a couple of really bad nights with lots of wakings.
Fergus went from the 50th to 91st percentile and noone is concerned about that so I dont see why it cant go both ways.
Hope everyones sleep continues to improve. Well done Filly on the first all night sleep.

Hello all,

It has actually been so long since I posted that the thread had fallen off my 'Threads I'm on' so I apologise. It's mainly because I am away and am squatting on DHs computer when he lets me.

baguette - that sounds scary but I have no experience of it.

MrsDm - that's a long late shift. You have my sympathy.

CSWS - DD hated her carseat, although perhaps because we rarely used it. I have no advice. Daniel loves his and we do use one of those head hugger things but that probably doesnt really make a difference. Do youhave one?

WWISA - ditto what Barbeasty said. I got into the whole topping up thing with DD1 and I would avoid it if possible for several reasons - the most salient of which is that she threw up practically every top up we gave her. Our problem was slightly different though. It is an awful lot of faff!

Daniel's sleeping is erratic to say the least. The night before we came her he slept 12-6am which was great. Last night he hardly slept at all due to trapped wind. He is now sleeping all day! Bum.

We didn't have wind problems with DD so this is all new to me. I give him infacol and wind him every feed. He seems to bring up plenty but we still have trapped wind. Is there anything else to try? It's not all the time by any means and I still wouldn't say he was colicy or a baby who cried a lot, but I'd like him not to be in pain if I can! ... and not to have sleep interrupted by wind.

(The wind that bothers him is wind that is going through him not wind that will be burped up, IYSWIM).

LaT - Emma's wind is the the same non-burping type which is why I don't think Infacol has helped us much. We've had a bit more success with gripe water although it's harder to get it down her. I don't think she really dislikes it but she tends to spit most of it out.

WWISA - Surely as long as Alice is now following more or less the same line, I'm sure there's no problem. It would surprise me if babies grew at the same rate before and after birth anyway - conditions are very different after all. Both of mine were on the 9th at birth, then went up to the 50th, then back down to the 25th or thereabouts. If Alice continued to drop down, there might be cause for concern but sounds ok to me!

baguette - Ha Ha!! "and possibly stop walking round the house in a milk stained bra with my knockers hanging out." Yep, I know that one!

At my 6 weeks check, I had a blood test to check my thyroid and it turns out I have post-partum thyroiditis again. A few weeks after DS was born, my thyroid sky-rocketed then burnt itself out and left me permanently on thyroxine. Despite this, it has gone overactive again so I've reduced my thyroxine to try to level things off. I am only mentioning this because as it affected me so much after DS was born I found out loads about it and it's actually fairly common and often goes unrecognised. Up to 10% of women may be affected and symptoms can be very similar as for post partum depression. The two can be linked and if you think you might have PPD,or if you're anxious, have a racing pulse, or really exhausted, it's worth getting your thyroid checked. Typically, a woman with postpartum thyroiditis enters the hyperthyroid phase first, followed by the hypothyroid phase, and then may bounce between the two several times before things either settle down to normal or settle at permanently underactive.
Thankfully, mine can't be too overactive at the moment as my weight loss is at a standstill... I'd rather be overweight than have a seriously overactive thyroid as it makes you feel pants!

Hello all. We're muddling through here, doing whatever works: dummy, co-sleeping, lolling around with my knockers hanging out (thanks Baguette, I'm going to use that one a lot!) The older DC (2 and 3) are being just lovely to Magnus. But I'm sure he's getting fed up with all of the kisses.

Oh, Baguette I had the shivery thing when I had mastitis, but I also felt really fluey all the time so probably not the same thing. My mum called it "the rigors". It sounds a bit Crimean, doesn't it? Or maybe my mum made the word up (she does that if the exact word she needs doesn't exist :))

I've got my brother's wedding next month and I haven't a clue where to start. Where did you find your dress AlwaysHopeful? Did you have any luck JoKettle? I've got no chance of fitting into anything I already own, and I need something BF-friendly. I'm starting to regret the thousand or so chocolate bars I ate with supposed impunity whilst pregnant.

Not really keeping up very well but thought I'd say hi.

Poguemahone - I'm off to a wedding reception next week and I bought one of these body smoothers to smooth all my bumps. It definitely makes the dress I'm wearing look so much better although it took me a while to squeeze into it and is not very glamourous. It feels quite comfy when it's on though.

Baguette - no experience of the shivery thing but it sounds very scary.

madamefreckle - the thyroid stuff is very interesting as I had a few thyroid tests while pregnant. At my 6 week check the GP said to wait a few months before having another blood test though. I'll keep an eye out for the symptoms you mention as I lost my baby weight really fast this time which I thought was unusual but now my weight has plateaued.

whenwillisleepagain - it sounds like your HV could do with a lesson in tact! As long as you think Alice is doing ok then try not to let what they say worry too much.

Got to go - it's bottle time! Sorry if I've missed anything - I must try to keep up!

Baguette that does sound scary, hope you have passed the worst of it. I know what you mean about yr knockers hanging out, I keep standing up and realising I have not pulled my top down yet and the neighbours can all see me through the window. I would be surprised if any of them have not seem my boobs yet!
SO after saying Fergus was strange and sleepy/cranky, he has woken up today back to normal but better. He is more smiling and laughing for longer and he is currently having a nap in his bed where he went to while still awake! Wow think he has passed some sort of 3 month development stage early and is now a new improved Fergus, trying not to get too excited . He also slept for a 5 hour spell last night (yipee). Of course I was awake well before he was wondering what was wrong with him!

La T, Fergus is very similar with his wind, he can wake himself up with a big fart sometimes, I have same problems with getting Fergus to keep gripe water down so not sure if it works or not. I did have him on probiotic drops for babies for 1 month and I have noticed it has got worse again since he ran out of them. Also I have taken him to the cranial oestopath. It was quite amazing, he held Fergus, did something to his spine and all this wind came flying out, Fergus looked so happy and blissed out so that might be worth a go.
greensnail sorry I forgot to reply about Fergus cold a while back, yes it did get better, took about 2 weeks to clear up. He still gets sniffly at nights sometimes but I use the drops and the sucking thing you suggested and I have a humidifier too which is good (got it free off freecycle!) How is your wee one?
Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend

GG Sorry I missed the last week of baby massage, if you and sonya fancy meeting up for coffee sometime that would be great, you would be welcome to come here if that suited.