January 2011

[MacMomo]

Thought we should have a post-natal thread so we can stay together from our ante-natal one. Technically, DD was a December baby after coming early on new years eve; hope you don't mind if I stay with the January group after all this time. How is everyone doing?

I am also back to work full time tomorrow . BUT I am a better Mum when I work as when I come home I DO NOT multi-task (ie child care, hoover, cook etc) I just child care. I had to learn that the hard way though by not realising I was neglecting my PFB for the sake of moppping the floor.

DD naps for about 1 to 2 hrs total in the day. I wouldn't worry about the length of time napping as long as he is alert and hitting milestones when he is awake

Macmomo OMG - I thin I would have cracked by now!

Best of luck with those of you back to work this week. I'll follow you in another 6 weeks or so (though part-time so not quite such a shock). It'll hopefully be enjoyable and feel a positive step once you're back into it.
MacMomo, I hope so much your dd settles into longer cycles of sleep for you once she's established in her new home. You're being so patient and cheery, fingers crossed good sleeps will come your way! When's the move?
My ds has 2 naps, both approx an hour, and sleeps well at night - more or less round the clock which I still struggle to believe. I do dreamfeed him at my bedtime as he has become a boob-refuser and hardly has any milk feeds now so I have to trick him into it while asleep. His other good feed is at 5.30am after which he just catnaps and does press-ups! He loves drinking out of a sippy cup but doesn't take a lot in yet. Was such a struggle to keep feeding him with my repeated mastitis and now he's not interested!!

Hi ladies,

Really sorry I haven't posted in ages.

All is well here. DD is finally sleeping through the night apart from an 11am feed. It took some strict sleep training (not controlled crying or CIO though) and I feel human again for the first time in 8 months. She still isn't sleeping in the day for more than 30 minutes 2 or 3 times a day and I'm not sure how to extend her naps.

Mac We're thinking about another one. I'd like to be pregnant again with 6 monthsish. Sorry you're getting no sleep. Check out the sleep nightmares thread in the sleep section. It's what got me through.

Good luck to those who are back at work.

Quick Question: Any of you who have stopped bfing when did your periods return? It's been a month now and still no sign of it.

Lucky you comrade. We are all diffrent.I am still bf - (only in evening and morning) but AF re-appeared when DD was 6 months. That coincided with her dropping a feed due to weaning.

Work was survivable!

hello all, just be catching up, it's been so long! Not online a great deal.

Glad work was ok cadlecap and that it suits you being at work.

MacMomo broody here :), but would like dd to be older if I was to be pg incase I am so lousy again, mind you still BFing frequently so unlikely it would happen now anyway. Never known what DH thinks, don't think he knows himself! There are loads of LOs like your dd, mine for example! Unless it's been a night when she has been awake for 2ish hours through the night I seem to be fine, although I have no job to return to, so that helps.

Loving being a mum even more than I thought I would, DD is not exactly an easy baby compared to others I know, but I get so much from our time together. She is sort of on the move, in an odd kinda way, but she still can't roll over, which I think frustrates her more than me.

Oh yeh, I have a DH now instead of a OH :), day went great, stunningly beautiful day, but seems like ages ago now.

WIll try to pop in a bit more often!

Hello again, I'm just back from holiday - only got as far as Cornwall but has been lovely having a break.

DS2 has finally started moving forwards! He's been rocking and shuffling backwards for so long I was starting to think he'd never find first gear, he's so pleased with himself .

Congratulations walk I hope the dress worked well on the day .

Good luck to everyone going back to work, I visited the other day and probably need to discuss return dates soon but I'm taking the full year so won't be back for a while.

Congratulations walk!

Is this thread full again?

I don't think so, it's only 483 posts and they normally take 1000, MN has been a bit glitchy lately though and I've seen other people asking if threads were full when they shouldn't have been. Very odd but hope it's not stopping anyone posting.

thanks, I actually ended up with another dress after I had so many comments about wearing blue for DH family - decided that I didn't want to spend the day knowing people were bitching behind my back. Even though DH and I were happy with it, I was getting to the point of telling them all to stuff it and not bother coming! With the help of my family we eventually found a M&S dress that worked, still not white. DH family still grumped a bit, but on the whole they were happy (stuff them!!!) , one of his aunties (who I didn't want to invite, who came at night), said to me, "well at least your daughter is wearing something bridal - DD had on a white dress, with silver shrug)". Overall I had a great day, can't pick the family I am now married in to!

Walk do you thionk you'll be posting im AIBU "My MIL is..." at a future date?

Severe sleep regression here. I think the change of routine with a child minder ahs had a knock on effect. She has been awake for 1 to 2 hours between 3 and 5 am. Not good when I have work the next day!

COngratulations walk though sorry your inlaws are giving you crap.

Thats a bother with sleep regression cradle. Hope it works out soon.

DD is absolutely crawling now. Really wish my family were closer. Every single time we're on Skype everyone comments on how much she has changed. Sending lots of videos back but it's hard anyway.

What's sleep? I've forgotten. DD now refusing to let me leave her bedroom after putting her down, so I'm eating dinner sitting on my bed next to her cot. Then feeding every 2 hrs all night (after she finally passes out at 9.30 pm). No idea what I'm doing wrong, she used to go to sleep easily at 7pm, although she always woke up regularly all night long.

DH keeps hinting about doing cry it out before I go back to work. I think I'll just eat dinner with the baby a 6pm and go to bed with her at 7!

walk amazing how extended family think they have a vote on YOUR wedding! I hope they're not like that with your parenting decisions.

comrade most of my family is in Oz and even my mum is 7 hrs drive away here so big sympathy and big hug. Will you be moving back here in the future?

yep "my MIL......"!!!! She can be so nice and she does really love her grandchildren, but she screwed my DH up so much and it has taken him years to overcome a lot of the issues. She also complains that we don't spend long enough at theirs, that I don't leave DD with them, threatens to come down to ours for the day (although she has been invited to do this and even to stay overnight) and then never comes, just does it as a moan/blackmail type thing. Think the main issue is that the other DILs have been all to keen to have them babysit, but we don't need that as I have no job to return to.

cadle that isn't so good when you have work. Hope it is just a phase. We have similar problems from time to time.

comrade yeh on the crawling and boo on the only skype. We skype with my parents and it is so much fun, but at least they are just about 6 hours away.

macmomo My DD sounds very similar. Like comrade not easy when you are returning to work. She has never been great at sleeping but recently like your LO it has gotten worse. I wonder if it is party she is getting more alert and aware and also things took a down turn when she got her first tooth a month ago. I now need to pretty much cosleep with her for naps/night or have her in the sling. I used to be able to put her into her cot sometime between 7-8pm, and she would stay in there until I went to bed between 10-1030, occ waking but usually only needing a hug, pat and would return to sleep. Now even if I get her asleep in the cot she only lasts about 10 mins, if I leave the room, wakens up, sometimes cries but often just wide awake. She will sleep longer if I sit next to her in bed or if I do things in the room, although if she wakens up and cant touch me she screams, The last two nights I have just taken her back downstairs, and I think we will just start doing that (seemingly my brother, cousin and I all were late bedders). SHe still gets sleepy around 730 so def needs a sleep but maybe just a cat nap. She then feeds/wakens often through the night. I find cosleeping works best as I can just pop her on the boob while I am still sleepy, otherwise I need to wake up. I am very much in the not letting LOs cry out. Hope you find something that works for you

I so wish I'd had this thread with my first dc. My nct group seemed to all have 'amazing' sleepers and if their dc didn't settle they were left to cry it out. I was (pleasantly!) mocked for just absolutely not being able to let my dd more than whimper without scooping her up and did worry that my parenting instincts were so different from theirs. Especially as my dd took 3 years to sleep well! I think it sounds like you are doing a fab job with the (non) sleepers and love that you're all sounding so confident and comfortable with your parenting choices. Absolutely the right way to be.
I loving and adoring this 8 month stage! Still bunny hopping rather than proper crawling, still refusing boob more than half the time then showing huge delight in formula but BEAMING most of day, chuckling and screeching with his big sister and totally wolfing his food! Happy days!
Big congratulations walk, what a lovely time to get married, in the middle of your ds's first year. In-laws sound a HANDFUL though!!
Our thread's been more active recently, great we're all checking-in. Hope those of you far away from family (very far away Jing!) have visits tee-ed up in the not-too-distant future!

Meant dd walk, for some reason my iphone changes dd to ds automatically!

With DS1 I probably was one of those smug sleeping through mummies, I definitely remember complaining when he started waking twice in the night during his 17 week growth spurt and kept doing it for at least a week. I couldn't understand why everyone thought babies were so tiring!

I've done exactly the same things both times with cuddling/feeding to sleep and not leaving to cry and I think DS1 is good evidence that bad sleeping isn't caused by them, it's just random good or bad luck. I think it's easy to think it's something you've done wrong when you have a bad sleeper but I'm sure they're just born that way. Reassuring to know there are lots of us in the same boat on this thread

Thanks for sympathy all :) it's worse when the clocks go back as then we'll have an 8 hour time difference. This means that we can only really skype around 4pm my time which is total arsenic hour for DD. Back to Aus (dhs family) at the end of the month for a few weeks and then the Uk for Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers for snow so that I have to spend even longer there but we'll see! Then Aus again for Chinese new year in January. Thank god the company pay for our flights!

Mac sadly I don't think I'll ever live in England again. I'm only a tiny bit sad about that though!

Bad night last night. Dds bottom middle two teeth are coming in together and causing lots of discomfort.

DD for the most part is sleeping through but it's taken quite strict sleep training to get to this point. Definitely not CIO or cc and I'm always right next to her but something had to give.

comrade your DD will be a flying expert before she is 1!

teeth argh
....poor DD seems to be having on/off sore teeth/gums since 1st tooth came in a month ago. 2nd tooth now in after a night of wakening up every 1 1/2 hours.

....I have three times had horrbile 2-3 minute lasting right side tooth pain, no idea which tooth as all sore. And at odd times - on the bus, going into the pool and chopping an onion! Have appt for next week. At last check up dentist did say she would xray just to check teeth since I'd been quite sick during pg.

...DH tooth that needs crowing (has avoid as he had one crowned before and it was horrible - I reckon dodgy dentist) is starting to annoy him, so he is booked into dentist. We are under NHS but it'll still cost

moan over!

Must be the season for teeth trouble, my wisdom teeth have all been quiet for years and one's hurting again now. At least it's free if anything goes seriously wrong at the moment!

DS1 seems to be settling in well at preschool (after a slightly wobbly start) but DS2 hasn't quite got his naps adjusted to the new regime, so far this week he's dropped off 10 mins before pick up time both days, I've disturbed him getting him into the buggy and then he's been tetchy due to lack of sleep. I'm sure things will get easier once everyone's a bit more used to it.

Hi guys!

Love reading up on all your news! Sorry I have been away so long. However, we have moved house and beginning to get settled. So much to do! Place is filthy, spiders are MASSIVE, garden hasn't been touched for over a year (and it is 1 acre (gulp)), it's 250 years old and needs a lot of tlc but we are loving it! Horses and swans at bottom of the garden and DD1 is running wild! Paid the 16 year old girl next door a tenner to cut our field with a ride on lawn mower today - I feel she thinks we'll become a readly supply of pocket money!

We are having crap sleep here with DD2. She ends up back in with us about 12.30 every night and I end up feeding her maybe 2 or 3 times during the night. What I really need to do is send DH in with water for a week or so and not give in but it is so much easier to just feed her and we all go back to sleep.

My Mum and Dad are here this week so I am getting some help with juggling it all but I need to crack this night waking soon!

Great to be back (no thanks to BT broadband tho). x

Glad you're back blanche, your house sounds amazing, I hope DD1 is sleeping well after all the running wild even if DD2 isn't yet.

Sleep here has gone from bad to worse, DS2 seems to be able to survive on about 6hrs at night (which is much less than I can get by on) and 2 smallish naps. I don't have the heart for any sleep training at the moment, poor little soul seems to be really suffering with his teeth (although the first 2 are finally through!) and he's got a cold. He seems to be able to stay cheerful all day but loses the plot at bedtime.

DD won't sleep anywhere but my bed and with me in it. Pretty fed up! But enjoying the day times, they seem more like little children suddenly than babies, don't they?

Fuck me!!!!!

Sorry , not read the latest news. just updating you on mine - applied to emigrate to Oz just after DD was born - just been granted the visa!!!
Haven't really drunk since conceving - making up for in now!!
Fuck!! (in a good way!)

ooh big news cadlecrap I've a friend emigrated to NZ the other to Oz, both now married with kids. I toyed with NZ about 12 yrs ago, but too far from my family for me. Now all the planning for you really starts.

MacMomo your DD sounds so like mine. Tonight she actually settled in her cot (next to bed with side down), after some adventurous exploring around the cot, of her sleepsuit, her hands etc, a wake up major screaming after 10 min snooze and the finally she slept there for 2 hours :o. That is a miracle, she pretty much needs me next to her in my bed (would say DH and mine but he is still sleeping elsewhere as DD still wakens too much for him to get a decent sleep), even if I go to the toilet she quite often wakens. Tonight I even managed to spend an hour with my DH - he got a bit grumpy when I suggested that watching him play xbox and then turning that off to watch some crumby football game was not exactly a fun thing to do together - ha can you tell he is getting used to being in the living room alone in the evening! Hoping things improve for you.

argh hit wrong key!

great news re house move blanche sounds like it'll be the perfect house once you get on top of it

sending you some extra sleep hours pelvic