March 2010 - Six months in - will they ever sleep?

[Arcadie]

Welcome to the latest thread for mums of babies born in March ( and a few in Feb and one in April!).

Come on in. Find out who'll be pg next and who's weaning onto what.

and Dads too.

Thanks for the new thread rkd. How'd S sleep last night?

Missed you r insanity Melk - welcome home

rebecca hope you managed to switch off last night, but completely understand if you didn't. Remember to keep talking (here, if necessary but perhaps you should lean on your mentor-doula (if there is such a thing?!) too. Totally 'get' your DH dismissing it all but we understand).

pacific Hoping your travels weren't too traumatic and that its good news when you arrive. Hopefully nothing more than some good old 'rat poison' will get Dad back on his feet again and his insistence that he's fine is pretty much on the money

evitas So sorry you're having to cope with a set back of your mums health. Again, positive thoughts from me that I hope help tip the balance to a good outcome.

pixie How's DD2? Hope she's home soon as can be. Also... aren't you about 10 dpo? How're you feeling? Anything? Hmmm, hmmmm?!

Sorry I vanished last night; on top of James waking every 15-30 mins all evening, DS1 was also... ill, I think. He fell asleep on the sofa, so I got him up to bed. About 20 mins later he reappeared talking absolute gibberish as if still asleep. Then he was crying (actual tears) that he was scared. SO he was sat next to me for a while then announced he was going to throw up. So we're in the bathroom with him retching (but nothing came up). Then he just wouldn't go back to bed, insisting he was scared. He's 13 in november so was all quite odd. I'd let hi go to a local youth club for the first time yesterday and my mind automatically jumped to 'has he taken something; intentionally or not'. I know he'd never do it intentionally, he's ultra concerned about his health right now and doesn't even like mayonaise on his sandwich as it's 'not healthy'! He couldn't believe I was even asking him last night.

He's still sleeping right now but I'm anxious to see how he is this morning. Oh, he had a sleepover at his friends the night before and told me they slept less than two hours, maybe. So... maybe it was just a combo of extreme over-tiredness coupled with a nightmare? He did have night terrors as a littly, and is still quite an anxious child. Eh, I'm just thinking aloud here. As you were.

arcadie thanks for the new thread. I did think that about Mental Health issues after Id written it.

manda how odd for DS1. Has he got up yet? Was he lucid at all last night? Sounds like he'd been slipped something if he hasnt been like this before? Hope he's ok. DH and I had our drinks spiked on honeymoon in Japan we came to the conclusion afterwards. We went from merry to unconcious in seconds (thankfully already in the hotel by then) and I passed out in the bathroom and he wet the bed. Very out of character for us both and not the honeymoon story we paid for..! But we were ok after a full day in bed (clean sheets) sleeping and wondering who the hell had done it to us!

Rebecca hope you got some sleep. What a sad ending to what mustve been a very exciting beginning for them. Hopefully they will have the courage to try again.

pacific and evitas sorry to hear about your dad and your mum's health problems. I hope they get the help they need and are better soon.

Melk did you go on hols with Kiss? when did you find out about the shambles? Hope it didnt spoil your hols. WHere in Greece did you go? Im off to corfu nx wk :) where it is 30C at leaast yey! How did dd2 cope with the heat? What was the most useful thing you packed?

Sleeping... this last week Ive done a small amount of sleep training (inspired by Pacific's thread) and started not to respond to every cry by feeding. Paid off last night when DD slept from 6.30pm till 1am and then till 5am which was just a cuddle - I shouldnt have gone in but PIL here.. and then till 8.30am! I wish I could say I also slept this much but no, DH snores like a traactor and I was so gobsmacked by the 1am feed that I spend an hour thinking 'OMG OMG!! We might have cracked it!' :)
Hopefully this remains the way things go for us as I really want a nice relaxing holiday...

oh yes pixie hows DD2 today? Is the hospital far? Asthma is a shocker isnt it - it can be life threatening and yet prescriptions still have to be paid for if you are an adult and it isnt taken seriously enough at school. My Dsis has it quite badly too.

morning all! thanks for your sweet words last night -really helped. S had worst night in months due to a cold but for once i didn't really mind.

manda sounds stressful - hope all your little ones are back on form today and also that pixie's DD is much better.

Yay for good sleeping!

love the new thread too.

Just to report back: DS1 got up about half an hour ago... He seems fine, slightly bemused at his half memories of some of the things he said (others he can't remember at all).

siamese Once he agreed to go back to bed I didn't bother him again last night - I was anxious and wanted to but I know what I'm like, I would have been a hassle to him when what he probably needed was to sleep. My bedroom is right next to his so his door was open and I left mine open too (its normally closed so the baby doesn't disturb anyone else more than necessary) knowing I'd hear him if he got up or needed me.

I feel quite sure it was a kind of night terror bought on by him not sleeping at his friends the night before.

But oh my! What a strange experience for you and DH! I hope you weren't being targetted as 'affluent westeners' to be robbed/abducted/whatever. I have an active imagination! More likely just some odd, malicious person who thought it 'hilarious'. Thank goodness the outcome was ok - wet bedsheets notwithstanding.

I'm sooooo missing travelling. I was very spoiled in the last few years before getting pregnant, regularly going to fab places 4+ times a year. Not been anywhere since 6 weeks pregnant (girlie long weekend in marbella isn't as fun when you're sober...) and although I long to, I can't see the point when J is the age he is. Look at my glass - it's half empty!

Thank you very much for your kind words. You are all very sweet! My mum has an appointment on the 17th. I'll go with her to the Hospital in Portugal.

Manda I was saying exactly the same thing yesterday to my DH, how much I miss to travel. We had been to London and Portugal but I miss all the exotic places...

Pacific Hope your father gets better soon. Have a safe trip. [Hugs]

IWCAS I loved your little film. Your DS is gorgeous!

RKD thank you for the new thread

Pixie Any news from your DD?

DS is doing well... a little bit grumpy, but I think it's because he's teething. We have started him on solids, just purée foods, and he likes it. Some days he eats a lot, others he wont... but he's 19lbs 10oz, so I try not to worry too much. He wakes up a few times during the night but he falls asleep on his own most of it. I usually feed him around 11pm and then 6 am. You can see some of his photos here

Have a lovely weekend
x

A quick post again. I promise to namecheck once back in the uk.

BFN!!! I won't be the first.

Ahh Dizzi. Sorry it wasn't meant to be this time. Have lots of fun trying for next month though

Well, Jasmine has started herself on solids despite my best efforts/intentions to wait until she's 26 weeks (she's 22 weeks). DD1 was dancing around her this morning, holding a biscuit and Jas just grabbed it off her and scoffed the lot! She has also managed a crust of bread and half a banana today! She is loving it and although part of me was really committed to waiting, seeing how she has taken to eating has convinced me it is absolutely the right thing for her. It has also convinced me that blw is the way to go, for her.

V busy this weekend getting DD1's 3 b'day party/our housewarming bbq organised. Weather is looking good for Monday, thank God.

Manda, I know exactly what you mean about the travelling thing. I don't think we will be venturing too far until the girls are a little older. We managed Barbados when DD1 was about 18 months old, but that's just a distant memory now.

Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks for the new thread Arcadie

Hello wimmin!!

So so sorry for the long silenece.

Thought I'd better check in to say I'm still alive. Just so busy. Now need to catch up (after DD in bed...)

xx

Hi ladies, like the new thread title, although siamese I thought yours was pretty apt but I agree not very PC!!

Sorry I missed out on the chat last night, got waylaid with eastenders and then dinner!

Have been reading so here goes, in no particular order:

Melk welcome back

Pacific hope your dad is OK, likewise your mum evitas

Rebecca terrible to hear about your doula family, I am sure that just having you around has been an immense help to them. It is amazing how close you become to your doula in such a short space of time.

dizzi better luck next time

manda I agree about the travelling, I went tto South Africa and California last year this year - Norfolk Broads!!
Glad your DS1 seems ok, how very strange.

at getting drugged on honeymoon siamese!

pixie glad your DD not serious, must be so worrying for you though.

A virtual bag of minstrels/revels/maltesers/mm's (delete as appropriate) and glass of something alcoholic to all those with sleep issues.

Sorry for anyone I have forgotton, but I think that is a record for namechecking for me!!!

as an aside samcam's little one is very cute isn't she?

Started BLW here today, DS had toast and banana this morning and broccoli and rice cake with cream cheese this afternoon, he seemed very interested and swallowed some bread and broccoli ( I know because his sick up this afternoon was broccoli flecked - nice!) It was bloody messy though, thanl goodness for the ikea highchair and a big plastic tablecloth on the floor, FYI broccoli gets everywhere, those little bud things are a menace! whoever thought it was a good first food cos of the 'handle' has never had to try to get it out of hair, fingers and nostrils!!!

DS is lovely at the moment, so interested in the world, he is like a little sponge soaking everything up, and he sleeps well, I feel very lucky.

Think thats it for now,

oh thanks SMAC for your tips on the nappies, they seem to be better today after a stripping wash and bigger vest.

Oh meant to add very of the nights away, however now that (fingers crossed) DS is taking a bottle again, perhaps my night off is not too far away!

Hello wimmins (and man!)

So so sorry for long silence.

was away a bit tis month and overwhelmed at the thought of catching up on the thread.

All is well in donttry land.

Must catch up later...

bet you didn't miss my appalling typos...

Evening all

Well done headgirl for new thread (i seem to remember you were actually vice HG but I can't remember who was HG and tbh you are far too bossy organised to not at least share the role) ()
Missed you all, am glad all ok, give or take. Will do my best to do shout outs but you know, ladies, if I don't mention you, it doesn't mean you aren't in my heart.....

Right.
pixie hope DD is ok and still big pat on back for, well, being marvellous
pacific also deserves a sort of pat/cuddle with a squeeze included, partly for being marvellous, partly for having amazing children including the Incredible NonSleeper and definitely for having to dash out to Germany. Our very very good friend had similar blood clotting problems last year (way too young) and gave us the scare of all scares...He's fine now. Harped on enough about my own Dad but it's definitely awful when either of them are ill so also a squeezy hug to evitas. Bloody cancer is, quite frankly, a shit. Well done to both for being jolly good Mummies whilst also being Very Good Daughters.
weaning we've also started - meant to do more in Greece but tbh i couldn't be ARSED - expressing etc and all that was just a pain. So she had a bit of baby rice and then I stopped and just shoved some melon or pear at her occasionally. This evening though, I gave her half a lovely jar of banana custard (slummy mummy excuse to follow - we had a 20 hour day yesterday getting home and i was NOT about to concoct something for her from scratch ) ANYWAY she a) wolfed it and b) gave me the biggest most grateful smile as if to say - oooooh mummy it was definitely worth the wait . I don't think she's going to be quite as arsey single-minded as the Elk regarding BLW but I'll do it anyway, give or take the odd spoonful. Re BLW the 6 month mark DEFINITELY makes a difference with their hand to mouth whatnot, IME anyway. iwcas your experiences with DS sound very very familiar, Elk was much the same

Right. Hols. Were lush. siamese yes we went with Kiss but only the flight... We were in Alonnyssos, which is an island near Skiathos/Skopelos etc - absolutely BEAUTIFUL and a lovely lovely holiday, really and truly. Midway through the 1st wk we heard about Kiss but advice was to stick with it and they'd get us home. To cut a VERY long story short, this advice changed to "Get home however you can, they aren't honouring their ATOL agreement". On CAA advice and our reps, we booked seats on one of the last avail flights home, not to Bristol but to East Midlands. It cost us another £500 .
I am NOT one to get arsey about things, really, particularly about travelling, I sort of reckon it's generally out of your hands so just go with it. Anyway - turns out ATOL did kick in, and we could have got back to bristol via Manchester and a coach . We're not sure we will get our money back but we have to try. Yesterday was certainly trying - a surprise excess of £30 for Thea cleared out our Euros, meaning no money until we could use our £ on the plane....cue me Bfing with that Parched Feeling and gazing desperately at anyone daring to come near me with any liquid..... DH put on his FamilyComesFirst mantle and managed to get me a bottle of water, somehow....love him . Various other mishaps later (delay, fuel stop at Thessalonika for 70 mins - really went down well with DD1, sitting on a plane that wasn't going anywhere for over an hour... - us using said ££ to order copious amounts of food on plane [starving emoticon] and then three portions of sausage and mash arriving as well....you know the sort of thing) and we arrive at East Mids where a lovely lovely friend met us and drove us all the way home. God love good friends.

siamese the heat was beautiful, initially very humid (and not so beautiful) but it was fine if it was a drier heat. We were VERY strict about siestas, which kept us out of the major afternoon heat. The greek are so amazing with kids that DD1 running around tavernas generally went down ok - and as for them seeing a fat bonny baby called Theodora... Oh. My. God. I don't know much Greek but, it seemed to go down well .
Best thing I took - well - BIG LOVE to IWCAS who lent me her sling, it's a beautiful thing and I love it [grateful emoticon]. Don't take anything that isn't cotton - it's simply too hot mostly for anything but a nappy. Probably the thing I'm the gladdest I took (great English there Melk ) is a couple of cotton sarongs - you know, the very soft ones. It was great for shrouding her from the sun, for swaddling at night (just a nappy and then swaddled), for lying on the beach, for mopping up drool etc, for everything.... We HAD to buy a parasol but even that wasn't enough - so if you have a sun tent (the pop up ones are great if you can peg them in/weigh them down, the Meltemi wind is a nightmare for tenty things). Take some PEGS. Don't worry about anything like a swimsuit or wetsuit or anything for swimming in - she was so grateful to be in the cooling water she didn't care about the temperature thing...

Right. Purely to give you all a break from the longest most boring post i'm going to have a glass of wine and come back....
Agenda for the next Melk post include:

1. Apologies/minutes of last post
2. MMMM latest?
3. Mummy Elk name change scandal
4. More reasons I'm glad to be home
5. Date of Next Live Chat

hey one and ALL! sorry i missed the live chat! was busy drinking wine!!!!!at a friends house! Rebecca its so so sad , isnt life so cruel at time, so sad for you and those poor parents x certainly makes me appreciate what i have right now!

My DH has gone to a stag weekend in weston super mare so i am home alone with all three until monday! [eeeeek]

hope DD2 is on the mend Pixie, x poor girl has had too much to deal with this yr hasnt she!

right off to watch rubbish telly of my choice! lol x

Great news pixie

Oh and good news dizzi too!

pixie- glad dd doing better.
Melk-welcome back!

Hello again!
Um.

1. Apologies and to forgotten people. rebeccacad i actually didn't mean to miss you out but wanted to say how awful - anything that makes you hug your children closer isn't always a good thing - but thank goodness you know the value of your cuddle. Not every child knows that bond - and my heart goes out to those parents. awful.
2. Right. Seriously. MMMM. I know not everyone can make it but we are three weeks off and we have nowhere to stay. Short of a Pixie's Garden Campout Rescue I'm not sure what we do, either book somewhere or POSTPONE - there are various who can't make that date.... RKD offered some useful Guesthouse thoughts - do we go for that/Scooby's Leeds idea/WHAT? Join me over on the thread for pertinent discussion. Believe me if I could make you all comfortable in Bristol i would.

I do sort of think that something will happen to make this work but I can't really work out what it is?!!

1. I have TRIED to change my name to Melk - but someone already has it?!! how ROOOOD?!!!! never seen her?! so what to do?!!
2. 31st July 9pm?
3. AOB:

Forgot to say I really do love weaning - it's a pain to get going but it's so funny when they try new foods for the first time have got to go, DD2 is squeaking.... more anon. night!

31st July - have you been in a time machine Mummyelk??

We must hunt down the Imposter!Melk and make her relinquish the title. This site ain't big enough for the both of you etc. etc.

But, yes, I imagine the 31st of July, 9pm particularly, is a reason to be glad to be home...

Assume you're suggesting that as a livechat? A whole year away almost. Ambitious, but if any postnatal group can manage it, we can!

I'm so sorry; I'm about to go to bed (whoo! Rock and roll!) and am feeling decidedly facetious.

Just a quick hello from me, back from our holiday in Wales - survived a week with the in-laws

No name checking as haven't read the end of the old thread yet, but my gosh I missed you all last week!