August 2010 - new thread ladies!

[Chulita]

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

ha ha definitely Chulita! They could not cope with the sleep deprivation at all. Could it bee teething, it seems strange to wake up every 30mins or so (and so tiring!) I would have given Calpol on the second wake-up (or maybe even the first!)

Daniel slept through last night which I SO needed (11pm-7am). He had been waking at 2am which isn't too bad but I was shattered yesterday. He had breakfast and tea yesterday whereas he'd just been having tea previously so hopefully that helped. He is much better at eating now - he doesn't tend to spit any out now which is a relief cos it was taking me ages to feed him just a few spoons before!

LCR and Marzi, for what it's worth, I am righ there with you. I cannot get E to sleep more than 30 mins during the day, maybe twice, so he spends the whole day grumbling. Then he wakes every 1.5 hours in the night, so am up 7-10 times a night. He'll only feed 2-3 times, so isn't hungry and can definitely do 4 hours without food during the day. End of my rope doesn't even begin to express how I feel. I feel like I'm failing E somehow... I finally found a dummy that he can sort of handle today though, so am going to try and teach him to self settle a bit with it. We'll see... Am ditching my attemp at the No Cry Sleep Solution. The author suggests your baby should be napping 4-6 hours a day. And that a nap that is less than an hour long 'doesn't count'. E will VERY rarely do an hour. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to MAKE a baby sleep longer???

neenz tbh I didn't even think of Calpol - he had his jabs on Thurs, he's got 2 teeth threatening on the bottom and this morning he woke up with a red, puffy, very teary right eye so Calpol may have done the trick had I tried it!
nat at less than an hour, I hate it when S wakes up after 30 mins but there's nothing you can do about it apart from leaving them to cry it out which could take hours - you wonder what kind of babies these authors worked with...

Chulita exactly! I swear half of them haven't even had kids, or did so one billion years ago and can't remember what it's like!!!

So true about men struggling with the sleep deprivation!
My Dh is in such a foul mood if he does the night shift that it ends up making it hardly worth it for him to do it cos I can't stand listening to the griping!

Tonight I'm going to try bad cop and only give water if and when she wakes up..

I know she has enough in the day to see get through the night as now having 2 meals and 3 seven ounce bottles.

When she wakes she barely manages 3-4 oz and has slept through the night quite a few times so I think it's time to try something to teach her to do it more regularly.

Ask me again in the morning though

T is such a lovely baby though, now rolling back to front and back again and chuckling all the time it's great to have her in our lives ( though I'd like her even more if I could get more sleep at night)

thedogwalker you poor thing with the weeny fingers - from what I've heard it's almost a rite of passage. I peel E's fingernails off, too scared of anything with an edge.

nat v disappointed that the No Cry Sleep Solution is no good, haven't read it but I was thinking it might be the only book I could deal with without me ending up in tears feeling like the world's worst mummy will stick to MN and intuition instead... Also, that's a crazy amount of nap time - I don't know any babies that sleep that much.

I think (touch wood) Elodie is coming to the end of her growth spurt/sleep regression. While we're still really struggling to get her down in the evening (although she has mostly been asleep since 8pm with a sneaky extra feed and the aid of my new ebay acquisition, a slumber bear), the night wakings are reducing to a much more manageable level. Last night down at 10.15pm, wake at midnight, then at 4am then up for the day at 8am. So I got pretty much 8 hours sleep which was amazing. THe night before was not so great, something like 12, 2, 4, 7, but we had a break from her routine with her coming out for me for dinner with the girls so I expected a rubbish night. But we've regularly been having 3 and 4 hour stints again, thank the Lord! Now we just have to sort out evenings.

Am listening to everyone's weaning stories with interest. My vague plan was to wait until E was 5 months (which was yesterday) then keep an eye out for signs she was ready. So far, not really interested in our food (no more than anything else we're holding anyway) although pretty much everything goes in her mouth. And as the feeds seem to be decreasing to a more manageable level rather than increasing I think she's getting sufficient food for now. So will reassess in maybe a week or so.

E's being baptised tomorrow, postponed from pre-Christmas when we got snowed in, really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone has a lovely night's sleep.

ay, oop caz My God, you've got ants in your pants, planning & marking milestones beautifully as usual. For some reason, I'm seeing bunting at your fête (maybe because I remember a few mummies on here making their own for nurseries)..anyways, good luck with your plans & I hope we're on here in May telling you to ease up with the preparations because a lady in your condition should be chilling. Would be nice if you did have a bump in June though..might make Belle's 1st birthday easier & in a way, complete a circle of suffering & start a new loop of new hopes & dreams.I'll never ever forget lying in this very bed (not the one I normally sleep in) fat & hot that summer night last year, just crying my eyes out for you & little Belle.

weehector I hoped you wouldn't notice! DH has water too but for some reason I got stuck in a Sam-can't-have-milk-so-we're-stuffed rut. I followed neenz suggestion and gave him sweet potato wedges with some parsnip and he loved it.
I believe in following instincts too on the whole, and not doubting what I've decided to do. At the moment (ie the last few nights) S is giving me a good 4 or 5 hours straight but then wakes up at 3 or 4 and that's him up til about 6 then a short snooze til around 7. Fair enough I'm getting a long stint but that'll be as much sleep as I get all night.
belly hope you have a really fun day!

Hello Ladies

Mmmmm.....deep fried mars bar

My naughty darling baby boy is having what appears to be another growth spurt The last 2 nights he has woken a couple of times in the night, but rather than grizzle straight away has been cooing, gurgling and shrieking for a good half hour/hour, then having a really good feed. Little monster. Then last night he managed to turn his mobile on by himself by kicking it

DH is dying of hangover today helpful

Both children are outgrowing clothes again, so hoping for a trip into our local city this week. H&M have some lovely organic cotton basics for babies in lovely bright colours, so going to stock up. Also need to get F a new coat as he has outgrown his snowsuit, and it looks like that is the biggest size they do.

This is a good read

www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/23/justine-roberts-mumsnet-family-life-misogyny-eastenders?INTCMP=SRCH

Nat, you have sympathies re short naps but it mnight improve once he starts eating more. Do you let him go 4 hours+ during the day without a feed? I'd try feeding him more in the day in the hope he won't feed as much in the night. Does he self-settle? Have you tried leaving him to cry a little?

weehector/chulita - hope the sweet potato works tonight! Parsnip was always a real fave too with the twins (yum yum). Daniel was a lot better at eating today - up till now I have struggled to get him to open his mouth so I have had to think of creative ways to get him to open it (wedging it open with the spoon and putting his bib to his mouth cos he always opens his mouth to eat his bib ). Anyway, 'tricking' your baby into eating is a real MN no-no so I am glad that today he has worked out that he should open his mouth when the spoon comes near! He has eaten a lot more too and more quickly .

Hope the baptism went well too.

Neenz

LCR thanks for that. Spot on really.

F was making eyes at DH's chocolate pudding and icecream earlier, was very funny, he was drooling and trying to fling himself closer

Hi all sorry I never post anymore always so busy, do not know how you lovely ladies manage to keep up especially with all the sleep deprivation. Sympathies to all who is suffering from lack of sleep.

My dh has also done the dreaded cut babies toe :( she bled lots didnt think it would stop and we both felt guilty after as it was me that told him to do them as I was too scared to. Ruby was only a few weeks old at the time, I now do them when she is asleep much easier:)

caz your plans for belles birthday sound lovely, hope you get your dh's results soon :)

I have a question regarding weaning: how much is too much??? Ruby is 6 months now and I give her small amount of baby cereal in the morning and she has half a jar of baby food in the evening but always cries for more in the evening. She also has 5 bottles of milk with 5oz in. Is she having too much? dont want to over feed her. She is so big already and size 6 - 9 months clothes are getting to small already. I cant believe she is 6 months it has gone so quick, and I must admit im beginning to feel broody again but no chance of having another as dh doesnt want to :(

I know im late in saying, but I hope you all had a great xmas and new year. we had a bad time as my fil passed away, lost his battle to cancer aged 53 :(

I am really lucky to have such a good baby at night she goes to sleep on me with a bottle at 7 then i put her in her cot and she doesnt wake till 7.30 and doesnt wake crying she sucks her hands or coos to herself. However she only catnaps for a maximum of 20 mins in the day so can never get anything done :(

belly I hope the baptism went well :)

Bit pee'd off here tonight, because after a blissful 3 weeks of no illness and everybody happy, it looks DS1 has picked up yet another bug. Not sure what it is as yet - he's coughing a lot and has thrown up twice (but often throws up when he has a cough - not nec a stomach bug). Having just spent the last half hour devomiting him and his bed, I'm a little grumpy. Plus whatever he's got, I probably shouldn't send him to pre-school tomorrow, and I SO look forward to my two mornings alone with S.

We took the plunge with the weaning yesterday. S wasn't quite as excited as I thought he might be, though most of the baby rice did go in, and definitely more today than yesterday. Though as you say, Neenz, a bib is sooo much more appetising . I'll whip up some purees tomorrow so that he can try something a bit more exciting than baby rice.

I was going to whinge about our early mornings, but it seems criminal when I hear how much some of you are suffering with nights. S is pretty much down from 7pm through the night, but he does bounce awake at 5.30am, looking for action. He doesn't seem particularly hungry (we don't feed him until 7am) - he just wants to play. When I go in to see him, he gives me a big beaming smile and starts thumping his legs up and down on the mattress. Cute but tiring. He does then fall back to sleep (in our bed) after a bit of a chat at about 6.15am, but by that time it's nearly time for DH/DS1 to get up, so that's it for sleep for us. Weirdly, he's following precisely the same sleep patterns that DS1 did (ie poor daytime sleep, good night-time sleep but early waking), which makes me think that either they've both inherited the same circadian rhythm, or that we're unknowingly doing something to train them into this pattern .

Oh well, here's hoping that a bit of solid food leads to a better night for everyone.

kcoffin so very sorry to hear about your FIL. Far too young...

elusive

Hector abandon hope, these scallywags never sleep. (sobs) why didn't someone tell me before??

weehector and lcrlcr I wish I had mn on my phone, I was up both those times and we could've sympathised or discussed sleep training methods...
I thought S had a good bit of sweet potato/porridge but he was up all night and started the day at 5.30. He's also constipated again which doesn't help but it's his Half Birthday so I can't be cross with him :)
kcoffin good to see you back, so sorry about your FIL - so young :(
As soon as S flags I'm getting back in bed and booting DH out with L, he's on nights this week so he'll be in all day.
alice hope you held off on the choccy, I reckon that scuppered L's appetite from early on the first thing she ever slobbered on was a malteaser but that wasn't exactly planned.

neenz S is the same re opening mouth for spoon, he'll happily shove stuff in it himself but can't work out how to open wide for easy insertion and would rather suck like a demented mackerel (as DH puts it) which isn't very effective!

kcoffin cross posts, so sorry about your FIL.

Hector thanks for the G&T. Hendricks, eh? Very swanky. Last night's G&T was boring old Gordon's (with lemon, not lime - pah!). I clearly need to up my game.

We seem to be getting earlier and earlier here - it used to be 5.45am wake-up, then 5.30am, and now it's apparently 5.09am. What joy.

But you're right, Hector, I have it lucky in that I do get a good 10 hour stretch out of him. I'm starting to try to drop the 10.30pm dream feed now that he's started on solids, so that I could go to bed at 7.30pm and not wake up until 5.30am. Oh, what raptures!

Sent DS1 off to pre-school this morning after all, given that he was quite bouncy and ate a good breakfast . Just hope they don't notice that he smells slightly of vomit....

Argh another cold here! F started snuffling in the night and is streaming with snot this morning

He woke at 11.40pm, 1.30am (i really struggle before 3am) and then he woke again i was like "not again" only to find it was 5.30am best part of 4hrs sleep! I put him back down again after that feed (which i usually don't do) and he woke just after 8am. DD also slept a little later (7.40am) as F hadn't woken her up.

WeeHector have a look at H&M online.

The 2 best nights we have had, have been after visiting family for the day. Looks like i will have to visit more often!

kcoffin sorry to hear about your fil, sympathies to you and the family.

Thanks everyone for baptism wishes, it ended up being a really lovely day, E was happy all the way through mass and when we got to the baptism she was so fascinated by the candles and the soothing voice of the priest that she didn't cry at all, not even when they poured cold water on her head. Then we had lunch for 20 at a smart pizza restaurant and it was great. E got almost no sleep all day and conked out on the way home but despite that was in v good mood.

Dare I say the sleeping is getting a little better? Last night she fell asleep before 7.30pm and while she woke a couple of times in the next hour and a half (I must admit I fed her a bit more for the sake of ease) she then slept 9pm to 2.15am, that's the first 5 hours we've had for ages. Then waking at 5am and again about 6.30am (obv not quite so good) but we didn't get up til 8.30am and she's having a nap now. I think she's pretty much through the growth spurt now, we've just been left with the hangover that she only really wants to feed to sleep which I think we really need to try and break. Annoying because before everything went to pot we had managed to break that habit (still rocking, but never mind)

Happy half birthday to S chulita! It's G's half birthday too - where have the past 6 months gone

pample loving your work - retail therapy rocks! Wish breastfeeding was having the same effect on my figure, but unfortunately cake keeps scuppering my plans.Just started back on the 30 day shred though, so here's hoping...

Sleep still a bit pants here but dh begged me to give up on putting G to bed at 7.30pm in the hope that he'd sleep through again (in the loosest sense of course). It seems G can only do one 4/5 hour stretch at a time and if he goes down at 7.30pm, that's when he does his long stretch of sleep. Which then means we're awake for most of the wee small hours. So we're back to feeding off and on all evening, down at 10pm and with a bit of luck, sleep til 3am. Not quite there yet...

As for solids, I swear they made G want more milk at night! I think we fell into a bit of a trap of letting him eat whatever he fancied, but his milk feeds suffered...so of course he spent all night trying to up his quota.

I've given up on daytime naps. He just won't sleep in the cot and I don't have the energy to fight with him.

Off to check out H&M now...

Well the water instead of milk means she wakes up drinks the same amount of water as she would have drank of the milk but without the soporific effect ..

So rubbish sleep is us.

She is definitely not hungry at night.

If this carries on much longer will need to resort to some kind of controlled crying type thing.

Did it with dd1 when a holiday and an illness threw her out of sleeping all night and though it was heartbreaking it worked.

I can't cope with the other two who are still very little plus the dog plus the night working Dh plus the ill lodger plus the housework on this kind of sleep !

Argh

bouncingblueberries - i was supposed to have a neighbour round this morning but she cancelled and now have lots of cake to eat - my poor diet!!

Poppy still has a terrible cough (although she is coughing less) and a snotty nose and is waking up every 2-3 hours - I end up with her in bed with us as I get her, feed her and then me and her fall asleep

My Mum and Dad came last week as dh was away and whilst they were looking after me and th girls some f**er broke into their house - didn't take thew Wii, mum's laptop just smashed 2 doors and a window, emptied lots of drawers and took 2 of my dad's fake unworking watches