August 2010 - new thread ladies!

[Chulita]

New thread cos we've nearly filled the last one!

We've been up a while too blueberries, S had a feed at 5, fell asleep so I trickled back to bed only to have him start crying about 20 mins later cos he'd pushed out a huge poo and it'd leaked everywhere! Fun, fun, fun. So we're up. Just a warning, level 2 is a lot harder than level 1, I'm so sore today whereas level 1 didn't really make me ache too much.
Changed the massive poo today and found half a pea and some paper in there...not much of a weaning diet but there we go! Judging by the way he's gnawing on L's toy wombat, tomorrow's nappy will be full of grey-brown fur

Hi all,

I've been most rubbish recently and just grabbed a few minutes in between writing thank you cards.

Sorry to hear so many of you are having sleep issues. We've finally got into some sort of bedtime routine with Scarlett. After not giving her a bath a night (concerned that it'd dry her skin) and not really doing bedtime routine (she'll sleep when she's tired - surely) I'd had enough of the 2am sleep times. Now we're on bed-wrap in blankets-feed-sleep by 8.30 ish usually with only a few false starts. Somehow the blanket cushions her when she goes down so she doesn't wake. She point blank refuses to go down awake (cue mucho screaming) so I was very jealous when visiting some GF-ing friends whose little girl goes down awake at regular times throughout the day, sleeps and then is woken at a pre-designated time. Not sure I could cope with the controlled crying though. Am I the only one whose baby won't go down awake? We bought a 'bashful bunnies' cot mobile in the hope it'd help but the music is really LOUD and screechy so think we'll give that a miss.

Also totally fed up by the frequency of wakings, every 2-3 hours if we're lucky, but usually every hour for the second half of the night (when I usually give up on the cot and keep her in bed with me to get some sleep). Love co-sleeping but pretty freaked by it after the day that she rolled out of bed (and I managed to hit her head when I fell down the stairs :( ).
Anyway, special hellos to Blueberries, Chulita, Alice, Hector and anyone else who still remembers me.

xxx

p.s. I'm sad Christmas is over. I'm pretty sure gearing up to it was what kept me out of PN depression and now I'm feeling a bit rubbish again.

Pample poor you, but here, have one of my carefully crafted chocolate snowflake biscuits - they are yummy. We must meet up again soon. Are you going to many groups? They are my life saver tbh.

Must go, off to a partaaay (for kids, but hey) back soon

Hello pample don't worry about the feeding to sleep business, I started being strict with S but that's completely fallen by the wayside. Even if he's just had a HUGE feed he wants to suck to sleep. As for putting him in bed and letting him go off...no chance! S is a bit younger than Sam right? He's just started going a bit longer between feeds, some nights I feed him at 10ish and he goes til 3ish (bliss) he's then crap for the rest of the night but it's a start! We also have a Winnie the Pooh starlight dreamshow which is sound activated. I thought it would be the bane of my life but actually occasionally he sets it off with a shout and it lulls him back to sleep. I agree with alice about baby groups, I lost my lovely groups moving up here and it's taking me a while to find any but it does make a difference.
alice pretty please may I have one of your carefully crafted chocolate snowflake biscuits?

I feed to sleep too pample and am v jealous of those with babies who you can just put down for naps with no fuss. J is very inconsistent. Sometimes (very rarely) I can put him down awake and he fall asleep with no crying, sometimes he'll fall asleep after a few cries but usually he has to be fed/rocked to sleep.
We've been having crap nights the last 2 weeks (but especially last night) as J has a snuffly nose which keeps him awake. So frustrating and knackering - especially as it doesn't seem to be getting better. But on the plus side he is being mostly lovely during the days and has started laughing a bit.
DH going back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off and I have nothing much planned. Ho hum.

pample In the 19 weeks Elodie has been with me she has self-settled ONCE. During the day I either feed to sleep (and am then stuck in position until she wakes) or she naps in the sling or the pram. At night, we have been rocking to sleep for the most part. Our bedtime routine is bath, baby massage, into her grobag, then DH gives her 5oz milk and if she's still hungry (which at the moment she always is) I feed he until she stops. Then either I sneak her into the cot or there is rocking until she drops off.

She's just woken up 10 mins after I put her down. DH with her but it doesn't sound like she's quietening much. Maybe she's hungry AGAIN...

Pample Belly I'm the same too. I cannot imagine E self settling at all. We bathe him and then I feed him lying down in the dark until he's finished - sometimes 20 mins, sometimes nearly 2 hours. Then I swaddle him and then DH will rock him to sleep (if required). He's usually down by 8ish and sometimes we get 3-4 hours with him asleep. Trouble is, I can't bear to go to bed early to take advantage of it. I spend all day and all night with E, and it's so nice to have a few hours alone with DH.

Right now, E is reswaddled/rocked at the 11/midnight feed, then I take him into bed with me when he wakes... Usually between 1-2am. Then he feeds snackily the rest of the night. Am exhausted and totally drained with this 4 month growth spurt business (can't seem to get enough to eat either - dairy free because E can't handle it). I feel like... a husk. That describes it best. And DH is back to work tomorrow, and E has his last round of jabs at 9am. This is HARD.

Anyway, God! What I meant to say is that I've been worrying that my co-sleeping, attachment parenting, breastfeeding with no formula approach had totally let me down. The proverbial rod for my own back etc - but, if anything, the 4 month sleep regression support thread has shown me that it doesn't matter. If your kid is going through a developmental stage, everything goes out the window, whatever your approach.

Hi all.
T self settles at bedtime but not for naps so I guess we re partly there..
Dds 1 and 2 both playing up big time at bedtime and in night at the mo to make up for it!

Can I just say, in my completely uneducated experience of 2 bad sleepers: don't worry about the old 'rod for your back' rubbish. With DD I did feeding on demand with no formula, feed to sleep etc and yes, eventually I broke the habit (at abour 10 months) with controlled crying and it was really, really hard work but we got there. I'll probably do the same with Sam but I always reckon on doing what gets you and your little one safely through the week and if that's co-sleeping, sling-wearing, or leaving to self-settle, do it. Babies are hard, hard work but they do grow out of whatever phase they're in (into a different one!). You are all doing fantastic jobs keeping on with feeding and loving your babies!
soontobe I'm dairy free too and have been stocking up on far too many home-baked dairy free stuff. Have you tried soya? I cut it out to start with and tried it after about 4 months and S didn't react so I can have soya ice cream and the like. I don't actually have any in stock but the option's there should I need it! I'm with you on the constant hunger though, I eat all the time...I reckon it's just my body's way of handling bfing :)

Oh dear, it sounds like it's not just me who's got the post-festive-season blues. Pample I'm so sorry to hear you're feeling so down. I would definitely second the suggestion to try lots of baby groups and things. When DS1 was born, a very wise friend told me that, however much of an effort it seems at the time, you will never regret going out somewhere with your baby. I think it was the most useful thing anyone ever said to me. I used to make myself go out pretty much every day, even though DS1 was a little nightmare who screamed non-stop, and my friend was right - I always, always felt better for it.

Re the settling to sleep, S will settle himself, but only with a dummy. Those of you having trouble settling your babies - have you tried one? I know lots of people don't like them (and plenty of babies don't like them either), but I've found them invaluable with both DS1 and S. Admittedly, I still haven't got round to weaning DS1 off his (he's only ever had it at bedtime, so I'm not that bothered), but I still personally think it's a price worth paying. With DS1, it's always meant that he will settle to sleep very happily, plus it gives me a very easy way of pacifying him if he wakes in the night (e.g. when he's ill). Both my children are good sleepers at night (with DS1 I never had problems with him waking because he'd dropped his dummy). I'm having the same problem with daytime naps with S that I did with DS1 - he'll fall asleep happily enough, but will wake after 30 mins or so and refuse to go back to sleep. That may be because of the dummy, I guess, but I'm just hoping he grows out of it like DS1 did (at 8 months he suddenly started sleeping for 2.5 hours in the day, without any help from me). Anyway, it's just a thought for anyone who's having to do the feeding/rocking to sleep thing. I tried to do that more with DS1, but with S I simply cannot spend ages trying to get him to sleep in the day, when DS1 is around, so I realy rely on the dummy.

I'm actually quite glad the holidays are over - it will be goodto get back into routine and back into meeting my friends and going to baby groups etc. I think things start up properly next week. It's just so blissful not going back to work - I usually hate starting back in January! It's been really nice for the last 5 days, DH hasn't been working and all our friends are away/busy etc, so we have just had a very quiet mini-holiday at home with nice meals, walks, lie ins etc. We have been putting J to bed late and then he sleeps till 9am or later, but that has to change now...

J will only very very rarely self-settle. We're having a mare with him this evening, he just won't go to sleep. I keep feeding him to sleep then holding him for 5 mins before putting him in his cot but he wakes every time. Last time I actually lowered him in with my nipple still in his mouth, but he only stayed asleep for 5 minutes! DH and I are taking turns to try to settle him. I started bedtime at 8.30, grr. I will go to bed in a moment anyway.

Hello all, hope everyone is feeling happier today, always the same after christmas, I always feel sad when the decorations are down, the house looks sadder somehow

I feel for those of you with sleep problems, I'm not too happy with my T's sleeping at the moment but he's very good compared to some. He always self settles and I don't mean that I leave him to cry, he just never cries when I put him in his cot, he gurgles for a few minutes and then drops off to sleep. He has 2 hours in the afternoon and he goes to bed at 8pm and was waking at 7am but that has now changed to 5am, which is why I'm not happy because I could do with the extra 2 hours, but reading your routines, I think I'm blessed, so I shouldn't really be moaning .

Has anyone else noticed a change with their LO's latch. T has now got really strong and seems to bite down with his gums, ouch, any ideas how to stop this as I want the habit over before he gets teeth

Hope everyone has a good day, take care x

Before you all hang me, remember my T had colic for the first 11 weeks and would cry for 15 hours most days, so not always had it so easy

dogwalker I'm just glad to hear someone is getting some sleep!

Again last night I was up and down, up and down with G from 2am...then suddenly at 5am I thought 'what am I doing? just co-sleep ffs!' It hadn't even entered my head to do so...doh. think dh might be sleping in the bunk beds with ds1 if it continues for much longer tho.

[waves to pample]

too knackered to write more...zzzzzz

Made a huge victoria sponge yesterday with fresh cream, so help yourselves!

yum, vitoria sponge!

Another night ruined by his blocked nose :(
Very frustrating as he'll feed happily then go down peacefully but almost straight away will start snuffling and whingeing as he an't breathe properly through his nose. Thinking about putting him to sleep semi upright in his pushchair. Any tips? We're using saline spray, snot sucker, vapour rub and putting the cot on a slant. they all maybe help a bit but not enough!

dogwalker J sometimes nibbles me quite hard with his gums - usually when he's finished feeding or wants to change sides - but he properly bit me a couple of days ago. It really hurt and was sore for several feeds afterwards. He doesn't have teeth yet but it had better not happen again when he does! Not sure what to do really, hopefully my shocked reation will have put him off.

victoria sponge. c not working properly - had to go back through my post and fill them all in but missed that one!

Marzi only Medised really works when they are bunged up - shame it is only for over 6s now! My sister used a little bit in desperation on her non-sleeping bunged-up 5o baby and he was fine.

My Dts always napped for only 45 mins till they weaned then started doing 2hrs at lunch.

I am really glad to be getting back to normal too. Daniel's routine has been all over the place due to us having late nights and lie-ins and him being a bit poorly. He slept for 3.5hrs yesterday and we paid for it last night - up 3 times . We are back on Gina Ford today. It's not for everyone but it bloody works - Daniel only wakes once in the night (3.30am), sleeps till 8am and self-settles when he is on that routine. The twins were on it from very early on [desperate to get double trouble to sleep] and slept through the night from 11 + 13 weeks.

Sorry that should read 5mo baby!

Alice thank you for the biscuit. I could probably do with a couple - think I'm nearly down to my lowest ever adult size (10) with all this breast feeding. I haven't weighed myself so can't awe-inspire you all with the weight loss, but must be something solly.

Chulitashe's 18 weeks ish now....

On the baby groups front, I go to a few but they're all weighted towards the end of the week, so Monday and Tuesday tend to be dead days. Thank goodness she's actually beginning to sleep while not in my arms so at least I get an hour or so a day able to do jobs and things (*clearly spoke too soon = she's now awake after only 10 minutes nap)....

marzipan and belly I have to say I'm relieved its not just me feeding to sleep. Usually we'll start bedtime routine about 7.15. But it often takes till 9 to get through bath, baby massage, feed to sleep and re-settle after a couple of wakenings.

I'm really beginning to cave on the breast feeding. We stopped weaninng after three days with a bit of baby rice as DH was cpncerned about the nhs advice... I can't help but think her snacking in the night wouldn't happen if she was ff......

soontobe I know what you mean about the going to bed early thing. One of the most shell shocking thng about being a mummy has, for me, been the lack of time with my dh.

Elusive she's refused the dummy over and over :s

Oh well just got a pink and blue bashful bunny to add to our little family of two tiny ones. Hoping in the future to use them to teach S about families when I get pregnant again(!!!)

And she's down again, yay might manage to watch the end of the ashes highlights for today.....

marzipan sorry about your bad night....

Two topics for debate:

1. I'm finding it really hard to spend my own money on myself at the moment. I've an account with a grand in it that I saved during / after pregnancy that was intended to go towards new clothes/accessories once I'd lost my baby weight. Bought a bag with some of it and now feel wracked with guilt. Does anyone else feel like this with their children? S doesn't want for anything really, we regularly buy books / toys when we feel she needs more stimulation... the only thing is, she's such a chunky little thing that she tends to grow out of her clothes every 5 weeks (had a v amusing incident with some 6-9 month jeans that won't get past her thighs). As a result we're limited in the amount of John Lewis/Mamas and Papas/ White Company stuff we can afford to outfit her in.... unless I use my fund,

1. We have a lovely Silver Cross pram but S has nearly grown out of it in pram mode. In pushchair mode it doesn't recline so I'm worried she won't really sleep in it. However it IS parent facing, and the other shove-it-in-the-car pushcair we have faces away. So what do you think re: stimulation from parent facing versus outward facing pushchairs.....

pample wrt ff feeding, it doesn't make a jot of difference to most babies I know. It's often another thing bf mums beat themselves up with 'X would surely sleep if ff' but of my 4 friends that tried, none of them did. On the July thread there are plenty of ff babies that aren't sleeping through and some bf babies that are. Imo some babies snack, some don't, that's just the way of it. I ff DD from 11mths til 12mths (because I doggedly followed the 'no cow's milk til 1' rule after she self-weaned) and it made absolutely no difference to her sleeping pattern. But, saying that, if you're struggling with the constant night feeds you might benefit from a break if your DH can give her a bottle. Up to you but if you do choose to ff don't count on it making S sleep through!
As for clothes, I buy lots of stuff off Ebay, they're in it for so little time that I just can't justify the expense new. I'm also not picky about what the brand is as long as it looks cute :) I don't buy much for me though cos I've always been like that. If you've saved it, spend it on yourself! S gets enough of your time/attention, she won't care what she's wearing and you'll feel better for having some nice clothes/accessories to go out in (and you won't grow out of your stuff in 5 weeks )
We've always had outward facing pushchairs, I like the parent-facing ones but DD and I still natter away to each other as we walk. You can chat about what they're seeing as you go so it doesn't impede interaction ime. I also stop whenever there's something to see ducks/diggers/ambulance/man-on-a-bike and witter away, takes us ages to get anywhere! We use baby carriers a lot too so they're on our backs and don't get much parent stimulation. DD is a right socialite so obviously hasn't harmed her. That's just what works for us though!

Pample wrt weaning early, there is a thread on here about the EAT study, that makes for interesting reading

chulita I have bought almost nothing new for E, virtually all her clothes are ebay bundles or from NCT sales.

I've never given E a dummy and I figured having got this far I should be able to manage without... famous last words.

Had a minor breakthrough today. E fell asleep feeding and I tried to move her to her cot, and immediately woke up, so I thought I'd try her in the pram and maybe go for a walk. She was by now awake, although obv tired. I put her in the pram, covered it with a scarf so it was dark, and although she made a few little noises, within 10 minutes she was sleep with no intervention from me whatsoever! Ye Gods its a miracle. Good 2 hour nap, too.

pample spending money on me isn't really much of an option - with me on SMP, virtually all my cash goes towards household bills. But I don't think you should feel bad spending on yourself, you've earned it and lord knows us mummies need the odd treat.

pample I think you'll appreciate having new nice clothes more than S will so don't feel bad - enjoy it!
We've bought very little new for J - had lots of hand-me-downs from friends. It's quite disappointing really, I love baby clothes shopping! (Bought him a set of babygrows from Next with dinosaurs on the other day - he doesn't need them but they are cute!)

On pushchairs, I've been thinking the J would probably enjoy going forward facing soon. The one we've got can go either way so I was thinking i'll have him facing me and lying back when I want him to sleep and sitting up facing front when I want him to stay awake.

I'm finding nappy changes have got a bit more challenging recently as J has started getting his hands involved . I've managed to avoid incident so far but it seems to be only a matter of time before he gets poo on his hands and puts them straight in his mouth . Any tips? My mum said she used to hold both our hads and feet with one hand but there's no way i could do that - he's too strong and wriggly.

Hope everyone has good nights tonight x