March 2011 - we made it!

[Muser]

The waiting is over, the babies are arriving. March 2011 mums, come on in your time is up.

Morning all,

Feeling fairly refreshed as got nearly 7 hours sleep uninterrupted last night - Lara woke when I went to bed at 9.30 so I fed her and then she slept through til 5ish! She's gone back to bed now too, she seems to go back until 8.30ish at the moment. I couldn't get back to sleep after 5 though, I think my body decided I'd had plenty of sleep. Gutted! DS was up soon after 6 anyway though.

I think I've read every baby book on the market and the only sleep one I think is any good is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr Marc Weissbluth - he's an actual pediatrician and founder of a sleep clinic in the states so I prefer what he says to all the supernannies out there. He says for the first 3 months it doesn't really matter how you get them to sleep - the most important thing is they get their sleep, which made me feel better about things! Lara occasionally settles herself but when she doesn't we either feed her or shush/pat her to sleep which works. She goes to bed soon after 6 because we have very little daytime sleep happening!!!

DD just woken up, better go xxx

Morning ladies,

Glad you are getting some good sleep too Lozario. Anya's sleeping habits are more like a teenagers... doesn't want to go to bed in the evening or get up in the morning. I'm up, dressed and ready to leave the house - now I just have to wake her, feed her and dress her. Off out this morning - got a busy week ahead of me.

I haven't read any baby books since I don't feel I need to with MN. lots of opinions is always better than one and it takes only a fraction of the time to read :)

Anyone else have a baby who sleeps a lot? Elijah is just over 7 weeks but he sleeps more than most of your LOs seem to. He feeds every 3 hours (ish) in the day then I have him alert for around an hour after a feed but then he sleeps again in his little chair.

So maybe 6 hours of awake and alert time over the day.. is that too little? He's content and putting on weight and when he's awake he's very alert and communicative with us. I guess babies are all different.

We don't have a routine yet. He sleeps in his little vibrating chair with us in the lounge in the evening then he wakes or we wake him at 10pm to feed (with a change and new clean babygro for bed) then it's bed for him. He settles in his cradle then and then feeds at 2am ish and 5am ish then wakes properly at 6.30/7 for alert time.

K it sounds like Elijah sleeps more than Anya does but not more than she should IYSWIM. She sleeps for 10 hours at night waking twice for feeds but quickly going back to sleep after. During the day she wakes, feeds and then is a happy baby for about an hour. After this she's my grumpy tired baby who refuses to go to sleep. She has been known to stay up for up to 6 hours (with a 5 minute power nap in between) even though for 4 hours of that she is fighting to keep her eyelids open. Right now she has been up since 12 when she woke from a 15 minute sleep, she is completely exhausted but won't go to sleep, she just wants to watch me and occasionally cry.

I think mine should sleep that much KP. I try and get her to nap for at least 45 mins every hour and a half during the day. And she'll sometimes sleep for 2 hours around lunchtime if given the chance. I think babies are meant to sleep a lot. Some of them, like mine, just aren't very good at it!

Thanks ladies- I know I shouldn't complain. I think it might be because he's a big lad too. You just worry about everything you can worry about don't you! We tried to go dummy-less over the weekend as it was really bothering me seeing it in his mouth during the day but Elijah was having none of it!

Poor little Anya fighting sleep! I'm a bit like that mind- don't want to miss out on anything that's happening!

Hoping that when he is more curious and distractable at 12 weeks or something we will be able to wean him off the dummy more easily.

Have you noticed a change at 12 weeks Muser? Is it the magical transition stage people talk about!

So weird that E is nearly 2 months, and that at 5 months old we can start weaning our babies! I guess that time does go quickly..

Hey ladies, guess what I bought...?

I'm thoroughly fed up that after 10 weeks of exclusive BFing, I am 4lbs heavier than I was 4 weeks ago! Gah I thought it was supposed to be the key to weight loss...

Not dieting, as dont want to affect my supply, but I am fed up of being nearly 3 stone overweight so I need to do something.

Sorry for the lack of personal messages, I have kept updated with you all and your babies sleep patterns sound perfectly normal to me. As Muser says, just go with the flow, our little ones are still so so so young, we just need to do what works for the time being for our own sanity! Throw away any rule books!!

Hippo I read your post 3 times looking for the part where you actually tell us what you bought!!! Usually when people say "guess what I bought" they follow it by telling us what exactly they bought... none of this leaving us guessing . I'm guessing an exercise machine of some kind? My OH bought a fitness bike the other week and asked me if I was going to use it too, I said no, I was not taking the subtle hint that I need to lose weight too . I'm going to stick to my Wii just as soon as I get a free moment to use it again.

Anyway.. must rush off... Anya has her jabs today

Lol 1Catherine1. I name changed - it was a huge clue to my most recent purchase... I bought the '30 Day Shred' DVD, its a much-talked about topic on this here MN! Now to actually open it and do the bloody thing

wish me luck.... I'm going in!

Good luck for jabs, Anya will be fine, they squeal a bit but its over so quickly, and a lifetime of protection

lol, I did exactly the same as Catherine - read hippos post trying to guess what had been purchased!!!!
Good luck with the shred - you'll have to tell us if it works!!
I started Zumba last week in a bid to help lose some baby weight... it was gr8 fun and I'm off there again tonight!!! Need to go to clinic today and get Beth weighed, lets hope they are nicer to me this week!!!!!!

the 30 day shred??!! is it just me that has never heard of this?! Let us know how you get on Hippo, sounds painful to me! Am also confused as to why I'm starting to gain weight now....must be something to do with vast quantities of cake
Quite of you guys that get 7 hour stretches etc at night, we're still up every 3 hours here but I know it will get better!
weather has been wild here so haven't been out and about much last week or so, made me realise how much i rely on car / pram / sling for his naps, really hard to settle him in the daytime at home!! But still trying to go with the flow, he also seems to need a lot of sleep or gets very grumpy, its so frustrating when you know they're overtired but you can't get them to sleep or they fight it and cry!
.....oh yes and people are always telling me he's soooo big! Think they just like to have a comment to make, same with pregnancy (bump too big / small etc) I wouldn't take it personally!

1Catherine1 We have jabs today too. Have to take DS with me as no one available to sit him, so am taking tactical chocolate buttons with me to distract him whilst she gets jabbed!

highlandbird I'm jealous of anyone who gets any daytime sleep at all! I have a friend whose baby sleeps for 4 hours during the day but is up every 2 hours at night, whereas Lara is only up once or twice at night but barely sleeps at all during the day and is a nightmare for the second half of the day as she's so overtired! We always say the other one has the better deal! She only sleeps for half an hour at a time and can even stay awake in the car or buggy. She's a stubborn little madam. And VERY LOUD.

People see what they want to see in a baby, don't they. I've been told mine is big and small in the last week and she's bang on average on the 50th centile! People also swear that she looks like me and then say wow, she's the spit of her dad/brother etc... I just agree with everyone for a quiet life!

Am really feeling the slog at the moment, especially with her lack of sleep during the day and how awful she gets in the afternoon because she refuses to sleep. She's in her moses basket at the moment, grumbling away, even though I know she's fed, clean etc and most importantly tired!! Rocking her seems to stimulate her even more. Giving up on this nap attempt now as I'm worried she'll wake her brother. :( He was awful as a small baby too in the same way, and now he naps and sleeps like a dream, so that thought is keeping me going!!! (Sort of!)

Have you tried a sling Lozario? It's the only thing that's stopped me going insane!

Who was asking about the magic 3 months mark? I'm afraid I can't say all our problems have miraculously stopped, they haven't. But she's so much more alert and interactive that it does make it a bit easier to deal with the problems. She watches us intently now, her little eyes following me round the room. And she has noises other than cries. She's a little bit more able to amuse herself now she's reaching for the hanging toys on her playmat. And the smiles! Tons of them!

Hmm she's ok in the sling muser but she doesn't really like being cuddled!! She's just gone off in the bouncy chair after a bit of a bounce. It's really weird as DS was the same - 3 or 4 catnaps got him through the day but he was always a mess at bedtime as so overtired. For some reason I thought this one would be different - I don't know why, as they are related!!

Back from the jabs - Anya is a good little crier. She let out one almighty cry when she got the first jab which intensified with second. I felt like the worst mum in the world. She has definitely earnt a day of cuddles. She calmed down though on the boob after but seemed to let out a smaller cry every time she remembered what the nasty nurse did to her. She's worn herself out now and is sleeping on my chest.

Lozario have you tried the white noise website? Doesn't always work with Anya but 9 times out of 10 it does. Only problem is I have to turn it up quite loud and she wakes the second I turn it off although I can usually turn it down. Also I'm not sure about the quality of the sleep she gets with it as her nap will only be between 15 and 30 minutes but it has to be better than nothing.

hi everyone

Been reading everyones posts. Lucys also a night sleeper rather than a day one. She has about 20 mins each time. She's sleeping through the night now although she wakes up and has to go on my chest for a bit

She had her jabs today

It was the worst pain I've ever felt. She was smiling then when the nurse out the needle in her face went into shock she let out an almighty scream and was crying so hard :'( the nurse put the other one in and that made her worse I was cradling her so much I didn't wanna put her back in her pram

She's got a full tummy now and is slowly getting back to herself. Dreading 12 and 16 week jabs!

Hope everyones good and had a lovely day

Hugs to all :)

Hello all

brief late afternoon sleeping occurring in bouncy chair so typing furiously...

Daytime sleeps - bit mixed here, but generally E v moody if been awake more than 90 minutes. On a good day (these are mostly during the week when DS at nursery and DH at work) we have one or two very short (15-30min) naps in the morning, a good sleep (2hours) at some point between 12 and 3 (this is often in pushchair) and then maybe a couple more 15 min bursts before bath/top tail time. Evenings are unsettled still - she does not sleep deeply at all and if possible likes to be on a lap with dummy in. However, can't complain though as after last feed c. 11/ 11.30 she has (touches wood manically) been going til 7.30. This am though she woke at 5.30 so I fed and then she (and I) went back to sleep until 9.30 - absolute bliss!!! Probably won't last.

Never read books re routine tbh - have a what to expect the first year book (good when looking up things like what to do re: chickenpox etc).

Had to google the shred OMG sounds hard, but amazing results - might have to consider it... I am trying to walk lots and do wii fit, but progress is slow. Going to go swimming also, but need to sort out downstairs IYSWIM.

Grrrrrr re comments from people in the street. I get 'isn't he lovely' (when did boys ever wear bright pink?), 'isn't he/she big' (well she was 9lb 4 at birth) and the worst is constant comments about her hair (she has lots and it stands on end) and people inferring that I style it (as if I would have a) the time, b) the inclination).

Had her weighed last week (before jabs) and at 8 weeks she was 11lb 11oz about 65th centile (91st at birth), but 'thriving' according to HV.

dummies DS self weaned himself at about 5 months (once found thumb) and then stopped sucking thumb at just over a year so I am not going to worry re: E's dummy habit - think it only looks really bad when you see really quite big children with one in the street (that and squash in a baby bottle for older children).

1catherine my posts also always seem to be really long. Sorry everyone for banging on...

bye for now...

x

It was me asking about the 3 month mark Muser- lots of smiles and grabbing things sounds good. We get smiles but looking forward to more. Elijah grasped the rattle for the first time today (clever boy!)

Lozario a vibrating chair is Elijah's nap place during the day. He does go off a bit in the pushchair carrycot but the chair is bloody brilliant! Best £30 we spent!

Catherine- you can buy a sleep machine- which plays white noise. I bought it for myself years ago when I had ridiculously noisy neighbours. Again- it was £60 but the number of nights sleep I got from it make it well worth while. It's really soothing and I used to leave it on all night.

Jupiter- am encouraged that your DS weaned himself from the dummy at 5 months and found his thumb. Elijah sucks furiously at his hands when he can find them so I think it will be the same. I would far rather a thumb-sucker than a dummy but we just cannot do dummy-less right now!

E is still feeding at least every 4 hours, though generally 3 so am very at your long stints of sleep ladies! Was that happening at 7 weeks/8 weeks? Is it happening with BF babies? What am I doing wrong here?!

Anya is still EBF and 9 weeks old tomorrow. She still feeds in 3 hour intervals in the daytime with a longer feed in the evening which leads to a 4 to 6 hour uninterrupted sleep at night. She's been doing this now for about 2 weeks. She got to this pattern on her own so I guess it will come to Elijah when it suits him. Hopefully soon though :)

KP you're not doing anything wrong he is obviously hungry boy. E is bottle fed, 1 feed of boob milk in a bottle per day. She does cluster feed in afternoon early evening and this seems to mean she sleeps longer. Missed that extra feed yesterday and she woke last night. So fed her at 3.30 where she took 4.5 Oz then 4oz boob milk at 5.30 and she is chomping and making the hungry noise again now.

1catherine meant to say thanks for White noise tip - used a short burst I found on you tube last week and it did send her off.

Must get back to watching Octonauts (DS watching and off to bed in 5 mins)

Hello all.

Have been reading just not had much time to post.

E is finally getting back to himself now but we are back to 2-3 hourly wakes atg night. Feeling quite knackered for the first time since having him tbh.

hippo - I am taking a bollywood dance class and borrowed my mums yoga dvd. I have a few latin dance dvds too (can you see a theme) which I am going to start trying to fit in. I desperately want to do zumba but cant find a class that fits for me.

I also have 3 stones to lose, race you to the finish line.

Mixed I think all the broken nights do start to catch up with you after a while. Beth sleeps 8pm - 8am now but wakes twice for a ten minute feed. I can cope with that but I would love a whole nights unbroken rest. Just once....

KP I'm still exclusively BFing, and during day Beth goes 2-3 hours, very occasionally four. The only time she goes a long stretch is 8pm-2am. Then its back to 3 hourly. She is 10 weeks now.

I found a zumba class near me on a monday evening but it starts at 6.30pm and often my DH is not home by that time so would be tough to make it.

Re shred its bloody hard work, did day 1 yesterday and today I ache too much to have a go at day 2! Will get back on it tomorrow hopefully.

Kpidgeon DD is EBF & 8 weeks and the longest we usually go is 3 and half hours. She did gain another 12oz this week though making her a chunky 13lb 7. Clearly I have created a very hungry baby too. I too am green with envy with 6 hour sleep stretches as the longest we've ever had is 5 hours I think some many weeks ago.

shreddinghippo The shred looks hard! Let us know if it works.

Enforced napping is going ok here - it seems I have to really bounce the bouncer to get her off on there. She managed half hour on there this morning. An hour (ish) on me at lunch and a half hour in her pram round town this afternoon. I'm going with napping, whatever it takes. Naps in her cot can wait.

I am ignoring all posts about jabs. Ours are tomorrow & I am not looking forward to them.

When I say i'm ignoring posts about jabs, I mean I'm too scared to read about them! I'm not ignoring anyone really.

Haloflo: about 5 hours is our sleep limit too, more often than not though it's 3 hours. It's tough! Our jabs are tomorwellswell, not looking forward to it, she doesn't cry much so I'll feel so bad to see her in pain, even if it is just for a few secs!