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

Thanks all, that is all really helpful. Had the woriust night yet last night. George was up every hour and a half crying, barely feeding and then falling back to sleep in my arms. Don't know if it was because of the cold he seems to have, or tummy ache because he hadn't pooed since sunday, or just random baby reasons that he couldn't communicate.

Getting through the day has been tough on us all, but we made it without too many tears. Off to bed again very soon to see if we can do better tonight.

Sorry for the delay in replying alwayshopeful, but we've just had a run of religious holidays that meant I was feeding a lot of people for a lot of meals the last few days :) :)

We've just (literally - today was day 2) moved Mia to a 4 hour feeding routine, so the day is now a bit different....it now looks like this:

7.30am Wake up dcs, feed Mia, get ds and dd1 ready for school& nursery

8.00-8.30am DH gives big dcs breakfast, Mia on playmat, I express approx 8ozs.

8.45am School/nursery run - either done by me or nanny depending on day.

9.30 Mia has a 2 hour nap approx 2 hours after waking. This will either be at home in her cot, or in the carseat if I have errands or in the creche at the gym.

11.30ish Feed Mia

12.00 Collect DD1 from nursery and put her to bed for short nap

1ish DD1 lunch.

1.30ish Mia 2 hour nap. If she's been out all morning I try to make this one at home.

3.30ish Feed Mia

4pm Collect DS from school

5.30ish Mia bed for short nap; give DS and DD1 dinner

6.00pm Bathtime for older kids,

6.30 Stories for older dcs, feed Mia.

7.00 ish Bedtime for older dcs; bath Mia and put to bed by 7.30.

Please notice 2 critical points: 1) All the -ishs in there...everything has to be a little bit flexible of course, and 2) I do have help from 12 most of the time which obviously makes things easier, especially when DS has swimming lessons etc to get to after school

Mia and I settled into our initial 3 hour routine (baby whisperer style, feeding on waking, up for 1.5 hours, down for 1.5hrs) from pretty soon after she was born, and it suits us. She still frequently wakes about 45mins into a sleep and might need a bit of settling to go back to sleep, but mostly this has worked easily. I did the same with DS and DD1 but DS, for example, required a lot more shushing/settling in the early days and couldn't be counted on to settle for his naps without help until about 5 months - so every baby is different and some need a lot more help getting into the routine (and probably a mother as fixated bloodyminded focussed and determined as me to get there )

Good luck :)

Woofie - I express straight after the morning feed with a double pump as thats about the only time I ever feel like I have 'spare' milk. Generally the less I worry about it, the better the flow...although thats a bit like being told not to think about a pink hippopotamus :) :) :)

Thanks filly - yes, morning is usually the only time I feel at all 'full', but will need to do some serious work on my organisational skills to fit in expressing around feeding ds2 and carting ds1 off to wherever he needs to be... We're finally moving into our new house the week after next. It's nextdoor to ds1's playgroup/ school from January, which should help me shape up a bit.

alwayshopeful - do you think George could be going through a 4 month regression? (I realise it may be difficult to spot if, like Laurie, he hasn't slept through yet) I'vr just been reading more about it on kellymom (too inept to do link from phone, sorry) as L's sleep has been so erratic for the last couple of weeks. I think it may be what's going on here, as he's been busy learning new stuff this week- extended repertoire of coos, first belly laugh yesterday and surprised me and himself by flipping over from tummy to back today. He's noticeably distractible on the breast during the day, so probably isn't taking as much in and needs to catch up at night. Plus he's doing all the teething signs... I'm trying to roll with it in the hope it will resolve soon - we've taken to co-sleeping again for the last couple of nights, whereas he'd been in his cot all night previously. Hoping he'll settle into his own routine a bit more once we're over this hump . Anyway, hope tonight is a better one for you (and us!)

filly - hope all your festivals and (no doubt gourmet) meals went well.

Right, off to bed. Finally got round to putting up a couple of Laurie pics earlier.

hi everyone,
havent dropped by for a while as its been a hectic few weeks here.

Elyssa needed a small OP last week on her kidney.
It was a tough day for us, watching docs put her to sleep, even though it was only an hour it felt like forever waiting for her to come back to us.
She seems fine though and was back to her usual self that evening.

Mrs D- was that a one-off operation? I hope it's nothing too serious/ long lasting and that Elyssa is ok.

MadamF- I know what you mean about the expense. Getting on my high-horse it really annoys me that there isn't an alternative. None of the local pools start lessons before 3 months, and none of them have lessons outside school (and therefore working) hours until about 4 years old. I go back to work in January, so can't take Ruth to any council run lessons at about 1/4 or 1/3 the price! So, if I want her to learn to swim before she starts school, this was the only way.

Hi everyone

we were away last week, good thing a change is as good as a rest, because certainly no resting was done. Alice may be doing 4 month sleep regression - very comforting to come back and see posts about that, but whatever, it was wearying. That and having to do activities that appeal to three-year-olds for DS's benefit - fun, but I never did open the books I took with me or watch any of the DVD's I'd lugged along.

mrsdamee that does sound tough - hope it was a one-off op

I too have a doidy cup, bought in desperation as we couldn't get Alice to drink from a bottle. She seemed to get on ok with it, and not dribble too much milk onto herself. The problem is, DH has described it as forcefeeding and is not happy about doing it - I need to persuade him it's ok, as we haven't tried for some weeks, and I am really longing for the day when I can go out without Alice for a bit. Gorgeous though she is.

Can I ask about bumbos - what do you think? I have been lent one (unasked for...) I put Alice in it today and she looked pretty comfortable on first attempt, less so this evening, but that was probably just because it's evening and she was tired.

filly my excuse is that I was away last week - let me look at the meet-up thread tomorrow, DH agitating to get on computer now.

We love Bumbos here whenwillisleepagain. Have been putting Alice in it for a while. The first few times she didn't last very long before getting upset, but now she's getting older and stronger she can sit in it for a while. She loves being upright and seeing what's going on. We sat her in the middle of the table while we were eating this evening and she loved being a part of the mealtime and watching what was going on.

Only slight problem we're having with it is that DD1 thinks it is a potty, and a much more comfortable one than the real potty too

Glad all went well with the op mrsD. Must have been horrible for you.

Still in 4 month sleep regression hell here, but hoping for better sleep tonight.

Morning All,

Elyssa is doing fine now, docs are hoping its a one off OP but will need to keep scanning her kidney to check it.
She has an abnormality on her left kidney- duplex collecting system, basically 2 tubes in one kidney and one was blocked and causing her kidney to swell.
OP was to open the blocked tube and for now they are hoping both tubes will work happily along side eachother but if she develops renal reflux the 2nd tube will have to be removed meaning another OP.

Im feeling ok but wish everything was normal as she is so tiny and I hate wondering if she is in pain. We have to keep on eye on her incase of UTI's and she is on antib's for next 3 months at least.

MrsDmamee -I hope she continues to get better.

I'm around but finding it difficult to type.

MrsDmamee that sounds tough, I cant imagine watching Fergus have an operation. I hope everything goes well now and hope she's okay with the antibiotics. I bought some baby probiotics for Fergus which I have not got round to using (you have to put them in a bottle of milk and my plans of expressing have not yet come to fruition). I could post them to you if you want as they are flipping expensive to buy.
I have a bumbo but am not sure if Fergus actually likes it or not. I put him in it when I wash the dishes etc sometimes and he doesnt complain but does not look totally happy either.
How bad is the sleep regression greensnail, I have much sympathy for you as I cannot imagine coping with this lack of sleep and a toddler. Ahh will prob have to do it though as I would like a brother or sister for Fergus sooner rather than later. Cannot even imagine wanting to have sex anytime soon never mind getting pregnant though
Sorry I have not posted much recently and cant remember much beyond the last couple of posts. I am truly sleep deprived. Fergus' sleep is beyond awful. He is currently up every hour to 2 hours during the night. I am hoping its due to the cold he has just now. He was awful before the cold for about 3 weeks but then had 3 decent nights (back to 4 hourly wakings) then the stupid cold came along. How long to babies have the cold for btw? Me and DH have had it too but we are better now while fergus is still all snotty. His daytime routine however at the moment is pretty perfect (apart from he sleeps on me) so at least days not too hard. I keep freaking myself out reading the sleep forums on here with all these people posting about how their kids are still awful aged 1, 2, 3 or 4. AHHHH scary stuff

Step away from the sleep threads Goodname. That's right...select something like AIBU and move along. Nothing to see here....:) :) Seriously, cross each bridge when you come to it - there's no point in worrying about fergus' sleep when he's 1 when he's only 16 weeks at the moment....that's a long way off! :) On a practical note, how much is he feeding during the day? Do you think you could squeeze in some more feeds, or make the existing ones longer, to get more milk into him beween 7am and 7pm? I think dd1 (born Jan) had a sniffle/cold for most of her first 6 months but it didn't impact too much although it does make it harder for them to feed and breathe at the same time. Stick at it, and remember "This too shall pass".

MrsDMamee, it sounds as though you are coping brilliantly with a very stressful situation...thinking of you and Elyssa and wishing her a speedy recovery :)

Nothing to report here...3 kids still feels like an awful lot of practical stuff to juggle but DS and DD1 are still being super lovely to Mia (even better now she's started smiling and 'chatting') and are being really nice to each other as well (at the moment....long may it last!)...right now, it definitely feels like less of a shock than the arrival of #1 or the move from 1 to 2, but even so....! Worst of all, is that even with 3 theoretically 'good' sleepers, it doesn't take much to have a bad night on a regular basis....for example, last night we didn't get to bed until 12.30 (DH working v hard at the moment), then DS wet his bed (1.30am), Mia was lying in bed chatting (4am - although I didn't have to get up), DD1 dropped her teddy at 5am and the binmen came at 6.30!!!! Grrr....

Fingers crossed for a better one tonight! :)

goodname filly is right. You do just have to face each challenge as it is presented. DD has always been a brilliant sleeper and now has rocked our world by this odd early waking (4am again today). You just can't always predict what might happen in the future. So don't fret. Filly's advice is good though - ensuring he is getting plenty of feeds in the day (and feeding for sufficiently long, e.g. 40 mins).

DTs still angelic. DD demonic (following a 4am wake up - not surprising I guess).
Off to bed - night all.

thanks for the kind words filly goodname and latrucha

and thanks for the offer of probiotics but at the moment DH and I are packing up to move(inter company transfer) its been a hectic few weeks so at the moment ive no idea were ill be this time next month.

Elyssa seems ok on her antibiotics she had 2 differant types for a week after the OP but now she is back to her 1 nightly preventive antibiotic.
She was producing alot more stinky nappies for me for a couple of days but seems to have settled back down now thankfully

mrsDmamee - I'm sorry Elyssa's had to go through an operation so young It must have been awful for you to sit through. Fingers crossed it's sorted her kidney problem for good.

goodname - there's a reason sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture. But there's every chance it will improve, and probably when you're least expecting it, you've done nothing differently... Despite what you read on the sleep threads (I agree, hide them!!)most toddlers sleep through, even if they were nightmarish sleepers as young babies. I thought ds1 would never make it through the night. Then he did. At which point I thought he'd never stop waking at sparrow fart o'clock. Then he did. If I had any idea how or why I'd tell you!

Well I win the crap mum of the day award today... Left Laurie in the centre of our big double bed propped up on a pillow, while I put some dirty clothes in the laundry basket. (Stupid I know - but it was literally 20 seconds..) THen there was a gut-wrenching crack and a screaming baby on his face on the wooden floor 3 feet below He fed, looked around, even managed a smile shortly afterwards, but I took him to A&E to be on the safe side. He charmed the pants off the doctor by grinning and gurgling for 20 minutes while he was examined, so there doesn't seem to be much wrong with him, besides a livid bruise on his forehead Feel like such an imbecile - you'd think I'd know better second time round. Curse the rolling over!! Off for a glass of wine to recover.

Woofie, was that Laurie's first roll? Don't beat yourself up. George can't manage a full roll yet, but i am watching out for it now and will be a bit more careful leaving him on the bed now!

Had the mother of all rows with dh last night and feel very emotionally beaten up. George must be able to sense it because he is being lovely and calm today. He had his 16 week injections yesterday and i think they have made him sleepy. Thank goodness they are over with now.

woofie poor you, and poor Laurie. Great news that he's fine. I'm sure most babies do something similar at some point. DD1 rolled off the changing mat which I had on the chest of drawers at about this age. Scared the hell out of me, but she was fine.

goodname I agree, don't scare yourself with the sleep threads about older children. There's no way to predict how they'll be when they're older, but bad sleeper as a baby doesn't mean they'll always be like it in my experience.

Our sleep is still pretty terrible, thanks for asking. She settles about 8, then is up about 10pm, then more or less every hour from midnight. Am so exhausted with it. Someone on here (was it you goodname?) said this "wonderweek" will end at 19 weeks, so I'm holding out for that. Alice will be 19 weeks on sunday :)

She also still has a cold, so think that's probably contributing. DD1's snuffles improved about 6 months, so that's another milestone I'm holding out for.

Anyone got any tips on how to get Alice to feed for longer during the day. She's always been a quick feeder, but its getting quite ridiculous now she's more interested in looking around than feeding. Have tried taking her somewhere quiet to feed, but she still just wants to come off and smile at me. Maybe I need to feed her in the dark during the day, but that's not easy to achieve with DD1 around.

MonkeyMargot what time was DD up this morning? Any signs of it improving? It must be exhausting for you.

Well haven't been on here for ages - been a bit busy :)

How is everyone getting on?

Filly - you sound like supermum to me! What an incredible routine.

MrsD - how scary for you. Really hope Elyssa recovers soon

Poor you Woofie! And Laurie of course. How terrifying. So glad he's ok.

My sympathy to all those not getting much sleep!

I know, I know, I must not read the sleep threads but its like looking at a car crash, horrible but impossible not to look .
Sleep no better last night but feel happier today as it is sunny (been raining for 3 days here)
Greensnail, it was me who said about the wonder week ending at 19, I too am holding out for that (1 week and 1 day to go!) SOunds like our nights are very similar, does alice want to feed every time she wakes up or does she just want picked up? Fergus wants to feed most times but sometimes just cuddled and dummy put in. The real bummer is he is harder to put back down after the feed, he is in with us now (actually just me mostly as DH is in spare room when he is working)as he will just not go in his damn bed.
Anyway sure it will magicaly improve next week
Filly cannot imagine going to bed at 12:30, 9:30 is a late night for us!
Went to baby matters class which the HV runs today and we did baby and mother yoga, quite enjoyed it so may join a class

I honestly don't know if she wants feeding or not every time. I'm generally too tired to think about it so just stick her on the boob as its the easiest way to settle her. Sometimes I'll manage to settle her just with the dummy, but it depends how patient I'm feeling.

DH has suggested him having her overnight and just bringing her through to me if she's definitelt hungry to help break this cycle. I think this might be a good idea if things don't magically improve on sunday!

yeah i am just the same at night

Thanks for the nice messages... He's been his normal sunny self today, so hopefully no permanent damage done. And he only woke once last night, but I'm not recommending letting them fall off the bed as a sleep solution... alwayshopeful - no I don't even have that excuse- he rolled (front to back only) for the first time last saturday, so I should've been more vigilant. I think he must have toppled off the pillow onto his tummy, then rolled off the bed.

The HV came today (typically, since he's got a big old bruise on his forehead!) and he's gone up to 14lb5, which means he's crept up from 9th to just under 50th centile. I'm really pleased, after bf got off to a slow and tortuous start

Hello RnB! How's Artemis getting on?

greensnail - Laurie's also doing short, distracted feeds, spending too much time grinning when he should be eating. I haven't really managed to extend them (except for first thing in the morning and last thing at night), but I'll typically give him 3 or 4 5-min feeds with breaks to look around within an hour, and count that as 1 feed (if circumstances allow)

George's feeding is the same during the day. Lots of twisting and grinning and babling rather than feeding. I have no hope of getting more than 10 minutes out of him and it is usually only 5 minutes. HV said not to worry because at this age they can take a lot from the breast in next to no time. She also advised me to pay a little more attention to why George is waking at night because he is very obviously teething. I tend to do just the same as you and stick a boob in his mouth without really waking myself up properly. But last night I fed him at 1 and gave him teething granules afterwards because his cheeks were red hot and he was still unsettled after a decent feed. Then when he woke up at 3 he wasn't at all interested in feeding, just really upset, so i gave him paracetamol and nursed him for a couple of minutes until he calmed down, stuck his mobile on and put him back to bed. He slept until 6 when he had another proper feed and slept until 8.

All in all, it seemed more in control than it has done for a few weeks. I don't like giving him paracetamol, but toothache is awful, isn't it? Will see how we get on for the next few nights and see if it has a knock-on effect of improving the daytime feeds. (Hopeful emotiocon)

They do get much better at sucking, but I found feeds took just as long because she was spending so long looking round her! IT drove me nuts TBH, but hopefully I am a more patient and prepared mum this time round.

We're having a pyjama day today. We've been doing lots of out of the house activities lately - partly because I've been a bit snappy with DD1 indoors. I think I've worked out that I'm being snappy due to Cerazette though, so I've taken my last one today and we're all having fun in pyjamas doing homey things. It's very nice.

I'm thinking of going on the normal coil instead of Cerazette. Does anyone have any experiences?

MrsD wishing Elyssa a speedy recovery.

woofie don't feel too bad as I'm sure the vast majority of mums have made the same mistake. I did with DD1 and until that point was extremely smug that I wouldn't be so silly to let that happen

Alice has also started stopping and starting when feeding as it is more interesting to look around to see what DD1 is doing. Not so bad when she comes off to do it but I remember when DD1 was slightly older than Alice is now and she wouldn't break the latch but would twist away stretching my boob to suprising lengths!

Here's something that I spotted earlier this week in a local newsletter that made me chuckle - its from an article advertising a N**Mums meet up:

"Mums can just turn up, we'll be there whatever the weather - armed with sunhats and picnic blankets or raincoats and willies!"

A slightly unfortunate typo

Nightmare day with Mia - she has barely slept and has spent most of the day screaming the house down. Since she is the most non-cry-y, chilled baby I have ever met, something is clearly wrong....she's not hungry (tried that), paracetamol has made no discernable difference, and I'm stuck :( She has a slight cold but no temperature...only thing I can think of is that she might be teething - 14 weeks seems a bit early but she's been dribbling like mad the last few days and is trying to ram her entire hand into her mouth rather than just suck her thumb.

Anyone got any suggestions? DS didn't teeth until 14 mo and DD1 at 7mo....

Knackered and a bit fed up...DH has been working really stupid hours recently, including through all his annual leave and has just come off a call (he was supposed to be on a/l today) to tell me he has a call at 6am :( :( :( Rather selfishly, I'm just worried about him waking the dcs and that we've got guests for lunch tomorrow and once again I'll be left doing all the cooking, childcare, cleaning, feeding and tidying.

Hope you all have lovely weekends :)