April 2010 - Growing and Changing Every Day

[sayitwithme]

Starting us a new thread so we don't get cut off.

Old thread here

Good thinking sayitwithme.

Oh a new thread! Well spotted sayitwithme!

Great to hear from you sleepywombat. Your new house sounds wonderful. It sounds as though things have been going well and that Noah is doing great . You are sounding really positive. The flights solund like a nightmare. Think we'll be sticking to the UK this year too. We want to buy a new house so need t holiday on a budget!

I am expressing all the time just now. Going away for the weekend next weekend - 2 nights, 6 girls, and uninterrupted sleep! TBH I am stressing a bit about leaving Eilidh but I know I have to leave her at some point overnight and she is in good hands with her Dad. I have expressed 27oz so far. Aiming for 50 but not sure I will manage that. I have to pump pump pump! Oh thinking about it is stressing me out. I'm so worried that I wont have enough. I should have started expressing earlier but I used to get so much in one go so thought that starting 12 days before would be fine but Im only getting 2 oz at a time most of the time, whereas I used to get 5oz easily

zeeky, hope sleep has been ok. Eilidh has been up a bit more but she has a cold so I'm hoping its because of that and not another regession!

Hope your having a good weekend

Just popping by to say I found you!!! Sleepywombat your house sounds amazing!!!
We are also holidaying in the UK...A £9.50 sun holiday lol ...I also end up packing for me, 2 kids and DP...as well as ironing all the clothes, making sure he has razors, deodrant, enough socks bla bla bla...I honestly don't know what he'd do without me!! And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing haha. Today he made a comment that suggested we shouldn't do housework before leaving the house, we should just concentrate on getting the kids ready and all the stuff we need for the day!! Laziness...he just hasn't got a clue!!!
We are on day/night 3 of sleep training...I've cut out all bottle altogether. Jude has been using a sippy cup in the day, with bottles at night, but I figured if I did the usual and let him have his bedtime milk from a bottle in his cot that he woud fall asleep with, it was defeating the object!! Night 1 was awful...screaming, tears, frustration..3 hours of settling, patting, and shusshing!! Last night was much better..he slept til 3am, would have settled straight back down after 10 mins of patting, but my silly mutt decided to scratch the door for a bowl of water, and run up and down the stairs, disturbing him, which then took me an hour and a half to settle him. DP sleeps with a pillow on his head, so doesn't hear half of the noise...but he does feel the kicks as I clumsily climb into bed!!!
Jude's back in our room while I try and cut out the night feeds..mainly for fear of disturbing Makenzi but she seems to sleep through. She's had a cough that was disturbing Jude through the night, so I'm hoping that in a few more days, they will both be able to go back to sleeping in the same room, peacefully!! Hmmmm!!
Oh dear..was only popping on , and I've left a rambling mess!!! I'm offv to finish watching DOI...then punish my darling DP by settling down on sofa for a good old 2 hour sob while I watch PS I Love You...thinking if only you were like Gerry, but then looking at him (dp that is!!) and feeling all mushy in love!! xxx

Good luck with the sleep training Princess. George will now usually sleep through but has been waking between 5 & 6 and will not settle back down, he wants to get up for the day. For the last week I have found being up from 5 or 5.30 each day more knackering than when I was getting up 2 or 3 times a night! Typically, the day when DH says he will get up with G & take him downstairs so that I can get some more sleep, was the day that G slept until 6.45am. Not fair!

Haverina sounds like you are doing a brill job with the expressing. Other than being in hospital for a night when G was born, I have never left either of my boys overnight & DS1 is 3 & half!!! It hasn't been a conscious decision, just that I've never needed to go anywhere that required me to stay overnight without them!

sleepywombat your house sounds gorgeous. glad to hear the reflux has gone, Kacie's has too.

Kacie can do 3 or 4 steps on her own now when she gets her balance right. going to take her to get measured for some cruising shoes tomorrow. i'm quite excited about it, how sad

Wow, well done Kacie! I'm very impressed . I'd be excited about getting shoes too!
Eilidh slept all night again till 6am. She is doing it more and more so going to start sleep training next weekend if she gets up. Going to try pick up put down I think.
Eilidh just danced to the jeremy kyle tune then waved at jeremy when he came on...time to put the tv off I think?!
I have 30 oz expressed now for my weekend away. Zeeky I think i'll enjoy the weekend away. My in laws are visiting on saturday so they will be able to help my dh a bit!

Meant to say, hope the sleep training is going ok princess sounds like you have made progress already. Its hard not to give in!

hello all, just marking my spot so I don't lose you all!
Well, Alexander is now onto formula and is not happy about it. My cracken nipples were getting worse and worse, my right boob was getting very red and sore but I didn't have time to go to the doctor because of work, but by Friday afternoon it was agony and I was a shivering fevery wreck. Went to the out of hours doctor on Saturday who confirmed I have mastitis, he prescribed antibiotics and then said "but they'll take a couple of days to kick in, so you'd better get some strong painkillers too." So what with all that in my system, plus the pain, I decided to just stop feeding. He has not taken happily to formula in a cup, but I think he's beginning to get the idea. He still leans in towards me, mouth open, and clamps onto a nose or whatever he can get hold of .
Anyway, after three days of the antibiotics, I can lift my arm above my head and can just about stand to touch my boob. I've been trying to express but there's not much there, I don't want it to get engorged so I'll keep trying till it's clear. Top tip to everyone still BFing - don't ignore cracked nipples and hot boobs! Mastitis is horrendous, DH was in a foul mood all weekend because he'd had to look after the children with a hangover since I was too ill to do it. He gets irate when I point out they are his children too .

sleepywombat I personally wouldn't worry too much about noah not taking milk from a sippy cup yet. Just persevere I suppose. I would recommend having the cup around alot with water in it. We did that with eilidh from 4 months. Because it was water it didn't matter that it got spilled, so we let her play with it. Eilidh drinks out of her cup on her own. If I express I still give her bottles. Not sure when we will stop doing that. What are the guidelines? Off bottles by age 1? We are lucky that eilidh will drink pretty much anything out of her cup. She only gets water at meals and at her 2.30pm snack. She has tried juice at toddler group and out of my cup and loves it but I'm scared to start giving it to her in case she then refuses water!
How is the weather now sleepy? Hope you are all safe and well. It must be scary. Have you experienced anything like it before?
bettymum hope your feeling Ok. My left nipple has been a bit sore. Eilidh has bitten it a couple of times but its feeling better now. We are still feeding at 7am, 10.30am, 7pm and occasionally she will feed in the afternoon and during the night. Eilidh has dropped her 2.30pm feed on her own. I'm hoping that by the time I go back to work at the end of april that eilidh will only be feeding morning and night. Is this feasible?
Hope you are all well.

You're joking me??! Jude's just pulled himself up to the sofa, pressed a button on the comp, and deleted my post....TWICE!!!
Right must type quicker!!!
Ok, so Jude actuaslly sleeps through the night now...actually through the night.!! I can't believe it..night 1 and 2 were the longest..and noisiest, night 3 was a quicker time to settle, with a sneaky cuddle in my bed , then nights 4 and 5....sleep!! My main concern has always been disturbing dd, but she slept through absolutely fine.
sleepy, With dd, I did the same as harverina 's suggessted, in that we constantly left a cup of either water/juice for her to handle pretty much all day, and once she'd mastered that, we gave milk from a cup, and stopped using bottles completely, so she realised she was only getting milk from a cup. Jude wasn't ready as early as Makenzi, but has recently took to a cup a lot better...I first used to try and control the flow by not allowing it to tip too far back into his mouth, and not let him get too much milkin one go, until he figured it out for himself!! I think they are very used to being able to have a continuous steady flow of milk so it can be a shock!!He's ok now with a cup, but I don't think you should feel pressured into omething, and you have plenty of time yet for Noah to get used to it by himself :) Hope everything goes ok with the cyclone xx
So it's my first midwife app this morning. :) I took dd and jude to stay n play yesterday, and one mum kind of lucky guessed I was pregnant, and another lady couldn't believe how big Jude had got, and remarkde, 'That's not your baby?!@, to which my 3 year old happily replied , 'We're having 2 babies now.' !!! She then replied with, 'Ooh, I hope not. Not yet.' I think I kind of muttered something along the lines of it being a bit late. Poor woman didn't know where to put herself when she asked if I was actually pregnant then, and replied with, 'Oh well. Never mind, at least you can get it all over with while they're all young!!' DP seems to think she just felt like she'd put her foot in it, and didn't mean anything harsh by it all, and to be fair she is a nice friendly woman in general..but I just couldn't help feeling hurt for my lil bumpy flump. He's very much wanted, and so much not an accident, or a mistake, or a night of forgetfullness, or a sigh, and I just know that as more people realise I'm pregnant, more people will think that. :( On the flip side, when he gets here, he will be showered with hugs and kisses and attention, so it won't matter by then. xxx

I'm very sorry for all the mistakes...I really was trying to type as fast as I could...and I'm not that good at it!!!!!

hi ladies just marking my place

princess well done with the sleep training!! It's amazing when they start sleeping through & then you start thinking maybe you should have done sleep training earlier!!?? George slept until 7 this morning which was fab. He had been waking between 5 & 6 most days bur yesterday when he woke at 5.30am & wouldn't be settled we had to leave him to cry. After 5mins he went back to sleep until 7.

Princess try to ignore all the tactless comments from people - it's really none of their business. It amazes me why people think they have the right to comment on or question women about their babies/fertility etc as it can be a very sensitive topic. It took us 15mths to conceive ds1 & we'd been married for 4yrs by that time, & we were constantly being asked when we were going to start a family. After lots of smiling & making jokes about it, dh finally snapped & blurted out to a nosy aunt that actually he had a low sperm count so we were having problems conceiving. I've never seen my aunty so gobsmacked !

George's days of being bf are numbered. He bit me on Monday evening & drew blood . I'd tried him with some formula for a cup but he didn't seem to want it so thought i'd try him with the boob. He opened his mouth for it & then bit down hard & let go. He obviously just didn't want any but got scared when I screamed & yelled at him! He's now just having a bf in the morning. He has his formula from the same style cup that ds1 still has his milk in - one with a straw. I was amazed at how easily he grasped how to suck the straw as I thought he was too young, but he's obviously been watching big brother carefully!

Princess you kept saying "he" in your post. Do you know you are having another boy?

Sleepy I hope that the weather doesn't get too bad for you.

J is so close to walking. He cruises round the furniture at great speed and stands unaided for quite long periods of time. He tried to walk to me today but only took one step as he lunged forward to me.

His latest tricks involve cuddling me when I ask for cuddles (however when anyone else asks for them he looks for me to give them to me ). He will also hand me things when I ask him for them, even a rich tea biscuit which is a great sacrifice!

Glad you're all finding the new thread OK.

Princess, I must follow your lead as it sounds like you've had success with sleep training. DS has started waking TWICE now in the night (1am and 5am) and I've just been giving milk in a bottle as it's the only thing to send him back to sleep but I'm knackered and I know it's a cycle I have to break. I think I'm going to start trying this weekend. So, I'll start by offering milk in a tippee cup (he's good at taking water in one during the day) and then maybe start gradually replacing the milk with water over time. Do you have any other pointers? I'd be grateful to hear them.

Sayitwithme, it's been the best thing I've done. That was the reason I started, and he had started to want milk an hour after going to bed as well, so it was 2-3 times a night, plus stirring as well. I knew it was going to give me a few long and tiring nights, but would be so much better in the long run. He hardly wakes at all now, and usually only needs me to pop his dummy in and give him his elephant comforter if he is crying, rather than the continuous patting.
I started out by replacing one nightime bottle of milk with a bottle of warm water, which he always drank, and giving all daytime drinks (milk/water) in a sippy cup. The night of the training, I gave him his milk from a cup downstairs,and then took him upstairs to bed, rather than let him drink it in his room from a bottle. He has always gone down for any naps awake, without milk, so I knew he was able to fall asleep by himself. He woke after an hour as usual, but I stayed by him, patting him, then just leaving my hand on him until he cried when I would pat agin. I did pick him up while he was crying, but not hysterical, but that actually made him really frustrated when I put him back down, so i only cuddled him when he became really angry and frustrated, putting him back down when he had calmed. I found he coped with that better. I always remember that the Baby Whisperer always said that they would stop crying and calm down, but would more than likely start up again before falling asleep, so be prepared for more tears until they had properly calmed down..I looked at it in stages, so I was always prepared for a next batch of tears until he felt that he was fine and was calm enough to fall asleep.
It is hard, it's hard to remember that you're doing a good thing, but one thing that kept me going was to keep thinking that if I gave in because I felt bad, it was so much unkinder to Jude, and that I had just made him angry/upset/confused for absolutely no reason, and that was unkinder to him to make him get that upset only to give him what he was screaming for 45 mins later. Good luck, I'll be thinking of you...and sorry for a long post!!! Hope it helps you. I started last Friday, and a week later I am getting so much more sleep, I feel loads better, and I have a baby that actually sleeps through the night..I wish I'd done it earlier!! xx

Thanks Princess. I was going to start tonight but DH is now going on a bender out for some drinks with friends so I'll not only be handling all night duties but will also be without support in the morning so I think I'll leave it til Saturday night.

The problem I have is that when he wakes, DS is not really that upset, just either chatty or whingey. So I don't really know how to handle that. I've been lying in bed listening to it for a bit recently before going in, in the hope that he'll go back off to sleep again by himself but he gets so loud and shouty that I end up going in and giving him the milk to keep him quiet and send him back off to sleep again. Last night, he did two 6oz bottles, one at 1am and the other at 5am. Could he be going through a growth spurt??

So I haven't quite decided on a strategy yet but it will involve replacing milk with water at some point and maybe trying to give it to him in a cup instead of a bottle. He did use to have a dummy but I took it away around Christmas because I thought he might be waking up to find it (creating the problem it solves) so I'm wondering if these bottles are providing the comfort instead of the dummy. So maybe the cups will help to put a stop to that. Oh, it's all a minefield isn't it?

Hi everyone!

Just home from my weekend away. Had a fab time! I'm tired tonight though - so much for getting more sleep than usual. Didn't get into bed till 5.30am on Friday night/Saturday morning I missed Eilidh lots but I was ok and really enjoyed relaxing. I was desperate to get home today and kiss her chubby cheeks! I had to express over the weekend which was a bit of a pain but I only expressed in the morning and evening for ten minutes each boob, so not too bad.

Eiidh was really good all weekend. She went to bed oth nights after her porridge, without milk, and has done the same again tonight. Not sure how to deal with this as feel she may waken hungry...do you think that I should try and give her a breatfeed before her bath from now on?? Advice would be great!

Princess well done with the sleep training. You must be feeling better getting more sleep, especially being in the first trimester of pregnancy.

We were thinking about starting training but Eilidh is still sleeping through about 80% of the time . Think I will try offering water during the night if she does waken..good tip Princess, I hadn't thought about warming to water.

Sayitwithme, is your DS still drinking/eating as much during the day when he is having the two bottles during the night? If so it may be a growth spurt. If it is a growth spurt then it might be better to wait to start sleep training as it can take alot longer. Although it might just be that he is getting bigger and hungrier? E gets 4 meals plus an afternoon snack now during the day plus 3 milk feeds! What is your routine?

Hope you are all well. We have just ordered a chinese takeaway . Eilidh went to bed at 6.30pm, mega early! So we re making the most of a quiet night.

Glad to hear you had a good time haverina. DH and I have a weekend away on our own coming up, which I'm really looking forward to.

So, tonight will be night 3 of sleep training.

First night: Offered him a tippee of milk at bedtime, only took an ounce at best. Woke around midnight. Offered him a tippee cup of water. Big temper tantrum but with a bit of shushing and patting, he went back to sleep. Woke again around 2am. Did the same, offered water. Didn't have as much of an issue with it but then took 1.5 hours to go back to sleep. In and out of his room at increasing time intervals, shushing and patting. Slept then until 6.30. Gave a bottle of milk around 7am and he had about 4oz.

Second night: Offered him a tippee of milk at bedtime but again only had around an ounce. Stirred around midnight but settled himself back to sleep. Didn't wake then until 3.30. Offered a tippee of water, bit of a tantrum again. Then took 1.5 hours to settle after much shushing and patting from me and DH. DH also administered dose of Calpol as he was chomping furiously on his comforters whilst crying. Offered him a tippee of milk around 7am and he turned his nose up at it. Proceeded to demolish a weetabix (made with formula), a fromage frais, a fruit pot and around a finger of toast for breakfast.

He does seem to have a healthy appetite in the daytime. DH is wondering whether to reinstate the dream feed but I'm reluctant as I see it as a step back. And also, i would like him to learn that food comes during the day and not during the night. He's not a big fan of milk during the day so the only forumla I manage to get inside him is the little he takes before bed and on waking and the 4oz I manage to sneak into his breakfast.

haverina - how do you manage to fit in four meals? We do breakfast at 8am, lunch between 11.30 and 12, snack after nap, around 2.30, 3, and dinner at 5. Milk is offered at 7am and 7pm.

Fingers crossed for tonight. Feedback appreciated!

Hi sayitwithme...Just quickly wanted to say Jude hardly has any milk in the day either. He has milk with his 2 weetabix for breakfast, most morrnings he will take 4 ozs from a cup just before I give his breakfast, but if I offer it after his breakast he will take about an ounce, if any. He has milk before bed, anything from 5-10 ozs...and during the day most days he will take none, some days he will, but in honesty that's very rare these days, as he has juice/water throughout the day. To compensate I just offer dairy foods like cheese/yoghurt more often. I agree with you about offering a dream feed, but it's your choice. I hope tonight goes well for you :) xx
Harverina..I do feel loads better...but have now suddenly gone back to my old bad habits of waking in the early hours, not being able to go back to sleep for at least an hour and half, and then struggling with the early mornings!! Think I need some sleep training of my own xx

So, night 3 went as follows: offered milk from a tippee at bed, had about an ounce. Went straight to sleep and didn't hear another peep at all until 3.30. He woke up just chatting, with the occasional whinge so I left him to it until around 4.10 when he started complaining quite loudly. Went in with water in a tippee, put him back in his cot complaining, and did a bit of shushing and patting until he calmed down and then left the room. He continued to whinge/chat for another 30 minutes before going back to sleep until around 6.30. Gave him milk at 7am, he had about 4oz.

So not too bad I think. It feels like it's improving gradually with each night. Thanks for your feedback princess - good to know like-minds are out there, as well as like-babies! Hope your sleeping improves. S*ds law, isn't it?! Just as baby starts to behave, Mum can no longer sleep properly. It's happened to a friend of mine who, after months of co-sleeping and sleep issues with her baby, he's finally slept through the other night and she lay awake until 5am!

sayitwithme this is our rough routine...
6/7am breastfeed
8/9am porridge and fruit
10/10.30am breastfeed
12ish lunch
2.30pm snack and I offer breast but dd rarely accepts now unless she hasn't napped well and is tired
5ish tea
6.45pm ish supper
7pm ish breastfeed, although increasingly dd is refusing this or taking a very small feed.
The quantity of milk she takes at 6am depends on whether or not she has fed during the night. The times of breakfast vary depending on when eilidh wakens. I don't ever waken her, we let her waken when she wants. Sounds like you have made progress pretty quickly, well done!
princess sorry to hear you aren't sleeping well. Have you tried a warm bubble bath before bed? I find this helps me. How many weeks are you now? Hope your ok
So, a developmental update...eilidh is waving on cue, standing up, hiding behind her hands when I say "where's eilidh", playing peek a boo using the living room curtains, trying to cruise...so much all in a week or so! I'm a very prove mumnw when she waves bye bye! She still doesn't clap her hands though!

Hope you are all well. I'm still tired from my weekend away! Self inflicted!
Have some feeding worries...eilidh hasn't been interested in a bedtime breastfeed this week and I'm a bit worried as she has also dropped her 2.30pm feed...although by the sounds of it she isn't the my one not wanting as much milk so maybe I should relax! As she is allergic to milk I worry that she won't get enough calcium though.
Hope you are all well.

That was supposed to say proud mummy sorry! I must start previewing!
While I am back on, sleepy hope you and your family are safe and well and that your house is Ok???