March 2005 part 3 - Support for the sleep obsessed!

[bonym]

Which of course, we all are

Leo - what other times

Well, Iris was exhausted yesterday after her early start. She was really forlorn, particularly as she only got a 40 minute nap in the pushchair in the afternoon. We were at a friend's house, so she missed out on having a good hour and a half or more in her comfy cot. Anyway, in a way I was pleased she was so tired, because this means she can't really cope with getting up at 5.30am. I live in fear of that, as I do know kids who get up at that time regularly (mind you most of them are crotchety and exhausted!) This morning she woke at 4am and then 5.20am, wouldn't resettle after a feed, so with much agonising we left her to cry - pretty excruciating but she DID go back to sleep till 7am when dp disturbed her by getting in the shower, so she obviously was tired and needed more sleep.

BoneyM - on the culinary front! Thing is I love eating! Yesterday I was cooking lunch for my friend who had her baby two weeks ago. I remember so well that stage when it's all you can do to get out of your pyjamas by 6pm, let alone rustle up anything to eat. So I took her a lasagne and salad, plus some leftover polenta and apple cake (sounds weird, but actually rather nice!). And we had a lovely lunch. Inevitably her baby slept and was angelic, whilst Iris was grumpy grump, after her crack of dawn start.

Sorry to hear lots of babies have been ill. Iris is recovered from her vomiting and cold, and finally back eating more or less normally. Dd1 has a terrible cough leftover from the cold though. Last night she slept 12 1/2 hours, and probably would have gone longer if we hadn't been so noisy this morning. Have packed her off to the childminder because she wanted to go, so I hope she's ok.

Leogaela - looking forward to not drivelling on to myself this weekend!

Busywizzy - that night sounds terrible. Very familiar too. Nothing worse than just settling your baby, only to find older child vomiting everywhere. That's when I called dp into action, telling him dd1 was HIS JOB!

shhh!
Harry slept quite well last night!
Woke for feed around 10pm as usual then slept until 3am (only woke as DS1 woke and DH disturbed him going to see ds1.
Short feed then woke again at 5am. Short feed, a bit unsettled then slept until 7.

He is still quite poorly, but thankfully seems to be making slow progress at last!

Popsy, so glad to hear Harry is feeling a bit better. Are you back at work - how are you bearing up?

Pidge, Harrison often wakes at 5.30ish and I feed him and bring him into bed. I hold him quite tightly and just don't let go, no matter how much he squirms, until he goes back to sleep. Can take 5 minutes, can take an hour Really hoping he grows out of it soon, although at the moment, if he slept through until 5.30 like he was before, I'd think I'd died and gone to heaven

Well Harrison has redeemed himself today after the hideous night we had. He has been an absolute angel and had two huge naps (not surprised as he was awake most of the night). But best of all, every time I've looked at him today, he's grinned at me, opened his mouth wide and waited for me to come and kiss him. It takes nothing really does it to just love them with every bit of yourself

DD has been at home all day due to terrible sickness last night and runny bottom today (can't spell the d word and sorry to be graphic) Admittedly, I didn't have the most amount of patience I've ever had due to last nights shananigans, but I got to the stage where I was going to scream if she said one more time 'mummyyyyyyy, I don't feeeeeeeeeel welllllllll' Was really looking forward to having the bed all to myself tonight without snoring DH as he is away, but DD has already climbed in 'in case I'm sick again' (please god, give me a break tonight) so might jump into her bed instead. Jambot, think I want to take back what I said about the joys of more than one child

Sleep vibes to everyone

Slept in DD's bedroom last night - my VERY FIRST NIGHT SLEEPING AWAY FROM HARRISON. Didn't want to sleep in my own bed with DD as I needed to keep the door open to hear him if he woke and didn't want her to wake as she's been so poorly.

Well, Harrison went to bed just after 6.30pm and I didn't hear a peep out of him until 3am. Left him a few minutes but he was whinging away so got up to see to him, thinking 'here we go again' and just as I got to the door, he went quiet!! Got back into bed and didn't hear another sound from him until 6am

Got up to feed him and as I lifted him out of the cot, he was sick over the both of us. Cleaned us up as best I could without doing a complete strip change of clothes then brought him into bed with me to give him his bottle. But before I could even put it into his mouth, he'd cuddled into me, shut his eyes and gone straight back to sleep. Didn't wake up until 7.45 and DD didn't wake until 9

Feel bionic today with a full nights sleep and a lovely relaxing morning with both of them fast asleep.

One of his top teeth is almost completely through the gum now and the other looks like it's about to pop through anyday. I read somewhere recently that once the top two and bottom two teeth are through, things get much easier (oh please god let that be true )

Am off to make DH a coffee as he's come home from his 'business trip' with the mother of all hangovers from a marathon drinking session last night. If Harrison wakes tonight, might leave the door wide open just for a laugh

Hope everyone is having a good day.

another good night....followed by only one nap today.....1:30 til 2:30...he has't been whingy or overtired at all either.....
don't tell anyone though.....

Sylvia has been another poorly baby here. She still has a very runny nose but can breathe easier. Sorry to hear so many others have been poorly and you had bad nights.

Leo - Sylvia first stood up unsupported last Thursday. I was waiting for DS while he was attending Woodcraft Folk. There were 2-3 other children around to see her, but not DS or DH. She was so overcome by all the attention, she started crying (and she really doesn't cry at all otherwise).

Last evening I drove for the first time without DH. I had DS and DD in the car. It was a short journey, 18 mins and 9 mins back, but a start. I also had to park the car but i knew there'd be enough space where I went (to a community centre for DS's Woodcraft Folk). I felt good about it, just sad that Sylvia cried all the time in her car seat. She really doesn't like it at all.

dare I say it but a third good night from harry....woke for his 10pm feed then slept til 4:45
quick feed and slept on an off til 7
I on the other hand was awake all night with aches and pains in my legs..

Very quickly popping in...

Sorry to hear that Sylvia is poorly Christina - hope she gets better soon.

Popsy - fantastic that Harry finally seems to be sleeping better. You must feel like a new woman!

Glad that you have had some better nights too Busywizzy.

We have also had a couple of better nights. Decided that Grace might have been getting overtired so have started the bedtime routine half an hour earlier the last two evenings. May just be coincidence but she has gone down like a dream and been less disturbed during the night. Waking earlier in the morning though (I guess this is to be expected) - 6.30am yesterday. 6.50am today, but can cope with that if the nights are better.

Picked up my (well Grace's) new Xplory yesterday - it is fantastic. Ok - it looks a bit odd, but then I didn't buy it for its looks - it is so light and easy to steer, Grace loves it as she is up high and (more importantly) is facing me (we had a lovely "chat" on the way to the school yesterday afternoon - and it's the first time in ages that she hasn't whinged all the way home), and she seems so comfy and snug in there. It's narrower than the Pramette as well so easier to manoeuvre. I'm really not one for these "trendy" prams but this is so practical - just hope no-one thinks I bought it to be fashionable!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Wow, isn't Grace the trendy baby! You cool mum you! (only teasing) Had a look at the Xplory. It really is very different looking but I'm sure you get used to that quickly if you and Grace are happy using it.
Lauren was at Dh's parents for the night. I only woke up after 8am. What bliss. Thinking of going back to bed. Only have to fetch her this afternoon. She really is going to have to go in the camp cot when she sleeps over now. She's outgrown her carry cot bed and until recently I was just putting her in the middle of a double bed when she sleeps at mine or DH's parents. But now she's moving around so much in the bed that I was worried she was going to fall out. She didn't but it's only a matter of time. Her Granny took her in for her first full swim yesterday. Apparently she loved it - kicking like mad and looking very cute in her little pair of towelling bathers.

8.00am The only times I've slept that late since Harrison joined us have been when he's been up all night and slept in as a result so I don't think that counts as a lie-in for me

Had a fabbo day yesterday. DH and I took the children to the New Forest for the day. Fed the ducks and horses, walked a lot and had a picnic by the beach (all wrapped up in fleeces, hats, coats etc but still lovely)

DD seems completely recovered from her sickness bug and Harrison is sleeping well (that will have doomed things for me though) May be a coincidence but me not being in the same room as him seems to have improved things. Naps are also getting back on track - this morning he was up at 7, went back down for a nap at 9.30 and is still alseep One top tooth is now completely through the gum so we are just waiting for the other which I expect to see anyday now.

Still no crawling but he's just started putting his hands in front of him and rocking himself forward. Oh no

Cristina, sorry meant to ask - how are you doing?

Lauren has developed her first cold. Nose running like a tap but seems happy in herself. Can't complain really We've had eight and a half months with her healthy. Dosed her up with nasal spray, menthol rub and Carvol in her bed, so hopefully that gets her through the night. I use a nasal spray called Chamiflor Ocean, which is sea water and chamomile. It's easy to apply as you don't have to drop it in, just pump it and it shoots a dose into the nose. Lauren actually quite likes it. Works like a bomb. Within a minute all the gunky stuff is streaming out of her nose and she is immediately breathing better.
She had a lovely time with DH's parents. Although she nearly choked on a strip of dried mango that I had sent along. Went all slimy and she nearly swallowed the thing in one long piece. Think my MIL wasn't impressed that I was allowing Lauren to have it, but she had been fine when having it with me.

No sign of any crawling yet, although she's as active as you can possibly be in the sitting position and manages to retrieve pretty much anything she wants. Talking like a mad thing, so I think she'll be more advanced verbally than physically. She's too laid-back for her own good! Chilled out man!! Shouldn't complain.

Glad things seem to be a bit easier Bizzy. Your trip sounds lovely. Do they still have ponies in the New Forest?

jambot - my kids always do that to - gag on some bit of food when the inlaws are around, and they tut disapprovingly as if you were setting out to deliberately choke the child! Iris managed recently to bite off an enormous chunk of apple, despite having no teeth, and then vomited copiously because it got stuck and she just coughed it and half her lunch back up. Oops!

Iris has been sleeping like a champion, but I fear I now know why. Today she and I have stinking colds, so she's obviously been coming down with it for the last couple of days. Shame - last night she slept 7pm till 6am without waking once. I fear once this cold has gone she'll be up to her usual tricks! Though I must say even before the cold she has been headed in the right direction.

If anyone is trying to cut back on nighttime feeds I really recommend timing them and then cutting back by a minute per night. It's worked brilliantly for us (apart from a major blip a fortnight ago) Iris has dropped feeds of her own accord. And I only ever give her about 1 minute of feeding if she wakes now after 4am. The exception is that after 5.30am the only way to get her back to sleep is feeding in bed with me. But that's working out ok too - we both snooze snuggled in the pillows!

Right - was going to go shopping as both my girls are still lacking warm winter clothes. But this cold means I'm going to snuggle back under my duvet instead whilst Iris has a nap!

Jambot, hope Lauren's cold is a bit better today. Yes they do have ponies in the New Forest. DD had a big bag of apples and as we drove through the forest, we just stopped the car each time we saw some so she could feed them. It was lovely

Pidge, hope you and Iris are feeling better today as well.

Harrison's other top tooth is just cutting through the gum which has meant he's really been off his food for a few days. This eventually caught up with his tummy last night and he woke at 4.30am. Tried for an hour to get him to go back to sleep but with no success so in the end, gave him a bottle. He wolfed it down in 5 minutes flat, shut his eyes and went back to sleep until almost 8.00am Today, he's been eating like a demon so hopefully his appetite is settling back down again.

Had our weekly swimming lesson today and he's really doing well. He now swims under the water with no problem at all (with me holding onto him). The only down side is he's now so happy in the water that he cries every time I get him out the bath!!!

Have a good nights sleep everyone. Hope you are all OK as we seem a bit quiet at the moment.

Pidge - Hope Iris is feeling a bit better. It's really horrible when they are feeling poorly, isn't it?

BW - Glad Harrison is enjoying his swimming. We take Freya every Saturday and she loves it. She doesn't go under the water yet though, we never did that with DS1 and he is confident in the water and dives down to the bottom to pick things up so we are trying the same approach with Freya. I think that the main thing is to make sure that you take them regularly to ensure that they love their swimming. DS1 is now 4 and you can really tell the difference between him and other children who have only ever been swimming rarely.

Had a lovely roast dinner yesterday. I am practicing my roast potatoes for Xmas dinner! Also tried a Jerusalem artichoke recipe from Jamie Oliver which was lovely. We had them delivered in our organic veg box this week and wasn't really sure what to do with them (we get our delivery from Luddesdown which is a local famr - Riverford don't deliver to us)

Freya is getting really close to crawling and is getting so frustrated that she can't do it - it is driving us both mad! I know she is going to be into everything once she does it, but to be honest she is getting so cross over it at the moment that I will be glad when she can do it.

She had her 8 month check last week and hearing test which she passed ok. Also had her weighed and she was exactly 20lb, which makes her at about the 75th centile.

Got my cervical smear test tomorrow - not something to look forward to exactly, but it's gotta be done.

Good luck with the test tomorrow, JoPG.

I haven't taken Sylvia swimming yet - i keep meaning to but there's always something (e.g. legs need waxing etc). Now my period has returned (sorry if TMI) it will be even more of a hassle to get the timing right.

I took Sylvia to a mother & toddler group. At home she crawls everywhere and really fast. She's inquisitive, takes books out of the bookshleves, tissues out of their boxes, pulls plants down etc. At the playgroup she just sat. About half a metre away from me, playing with the nearest toy to her. I took her around to play on the rocking horse, the slide, some other toys and left her in the middle of the room. Instead of crawling back to me she just sat there, looked up and started crying. So of course i went to pick her up. It just seems so strange that she's so different to Dominic in public (he's v confident).

BonyM - i've seen an Xplory around. They look odd but i too have heard only good things about them. Mind you, i still haven't got my head round 3-wheelers, that's how old-fashioned i am!

How great to hear the bad sleepers seem to finally be improving again! Niklas also slept better last night, wouldn't go to bed (finally went to sleep around 10) but then slept through until 3, fed and woke again at 7. Maybe it was the full moon last week that made them so bad!

I've got a really bad cold now, feeling much better today because of having a better night sleep but I am so blocked up that I can hardly hear anything at all today.

I took Niklas swimming yesterday, the first time for ages. And I am relieved to say that he still absolutely loved it ! I even sat him on a wall about a meter above the water and he was pushing himself off it and falling into the water (with me catching him of course). I'm still not brave enough to deliberately put him under the water, although he did tumble in once or twice and it doesn't seem to worry him.

I also had a bit of a shopping spree yesterday, I got him a little brown velvet suit with a shirt and tie to wear at the wedding we are going to in December, it is soooooooooooooooooo cute! And I got him his first pair of shoes ! Only to wear so he can stand outside at the nursery when the other children play in the garden, I'm not that keen on him having shoes yet otherwise. what do you all think about shoes for the little ones?

Xplory???? Must look that one up... aha, the Stokke thing. Is the Bugaboo Frog popular in the UK, everyone (except me and people that don't have babies ) in Zürich seems to have one.

Popsy, hope you had a better night last night. What's wrong with your legs?

Cristina, well done for driving alone with the children! Did you give Sylvia things to play with? Niklas is usually quite happy in the car, maybe because he is used to it though.

Niklas had his 9 month check yesterday, he is 9.2kg and 71cm, still a short fatty !

We have had snow in Zurich (although it didn't settle for long), but also beautiful sunshine and clear skies. There has been a lot of snow on the mountains, just need a liiiiiiiiiitle bit more to be sure I can go snowboarding at Christmas !

Lauren's cold is nearly over. A bit of a runny nose, but not a constant stream. Quite revolting really - if I don't wipe the 'snail trail', she quite happily wipes it up with her tongue and swollows it!! Yuk.

Leo, if you blow on their faces just before putting a baby underwater, they naturally take a breath. It took about 3-4 attempts with Harrison before he was OK with it so I used to do it just as we were about to get out so I could cuddle him if he went off on one. Now I sit him on the wall, say 'humpty dumpty sat on a wall, humpty dumpty had a great fall, one two three' blow on his face and under he goes. He loves it The main thing is to look likes it's perfectly normal when they come back up, rather than looking shocked/concerned and making them feel like they ought to scream You're also supposed to blow on their faces and sometimes not put them under the water so they don't always think this is what's coming next.

With shoes, I don't think babies are supposed to wear 'proper' ones until they've been walking for a good six weeks. Not sure why, I just remember this with DD. I'm sure some wise MN'er somewhere will be able to explain the technical reasons why which is bound to have something to do with bone growth. Was reading something about this on another thread recently and some of the mums had bought little leather 'shoes' from Daisy Roots (advertised on MN homepage)

Had a bad night here sadly, but I can see Harrison's top tooth trying to break through the gum so I'm not surprised. He just cried on and off most of the night (at varying volumes - woke the whole house at one stage ) Gave up at 5.30 and brought him into bed with me which always does the trick but even that only settled him for an hour.

He's been a bit grumpy today (cries every time he can't see me so going to the loo has been a real chore). However, he's eating well so it can't be as painful as it has been the past few days. I'm hoping it will pop through in the next day or two.

Jo, hope smear is OK (yuk). I'm impressed you even knew what a jerusalem artichoke was, never mind what to do with it

Have a good day everyone.

Cristina, maybe Sylvia was a bit overwhelmed by the noise etc. I know our baby group is way, way noisier than anything Harrison is used to (even with DD in the house). We've been going since he was six weeks old so now he loves it and even seems to understand when I say we're going there and starts flapping his arms. Hmmmmm, flaps his arms to most things so maybe not

Stick with it and hopefully it will get easier and it's nice for you to meet with other mums I always find.

Leogaela - Niklas's wedding outfit sounds adorable! Did you find anything for you?

We're still just using soft leather shoes - like the daisy roots ones - purely to keep Iris's feet warm when she's out in the buggy. Real shoes are so expensive I'll put it off as long as possible .

Bugaboos are really popular here too. Though not in this cash-strapped house! We've got this old workhorse of a Mamas and Papas, which is weighty, but brilliant as you can pile all your shopping on the back and underneath. We also have a lightweight Maclaren for holidays, but it drives me mad as it tips over at the slightest opportunity, and there's no room in the basket for anything.

Haven't done much swimming - but the couple of times we've been Iris has loved it. It's so much harder now there's two of them, I need another adult to help. And on my days with just Iris I seem to be so busy I haven't got round to it.

We're both so much better today - just a bit sniffly and croaky. I spent virtually all of yesterday morning and afternoon under the duvet! So I credit that self-indulgence with my high spirits today. Good job as I have both girls to entertain.

Iris had another good night - 7pm till 5.30am. She's been doing that pretty reliably for about 10 days. And if she does wake before then I don't feed her - just stroke her back until she calms and resettles. What a different world from a month or so ago when she was waking 3-5 times a night.

Pidge, glad you're both feeling better and for Iris and sleeping well.

aahh Caleb is on the move! He can climb the stairs from bottom to top and tries to go back down but we stop him, he's also pulling himself up on furniture and cruising. House is baby proofed but boy it's hard work keeping him amused, i'm out every single day at baby groups and he loves it. Still not sleeping though the night but I think it's because i'm still breast feeding? Glad everyone's ok and our gorgeous babies are doing so well. Can you believe it's nearly there 1st birthdays already?