June 10 babies are growing apace, teething and crawling all over the place.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Here we are ladies. Let's see if we can manage to chat a bit more on this one :).

[minimoonumbertwo]

LaT I'm not sure if you remember but ds1 is pretty much the same age as your dd and we had a v similar problem with him - basically wanting company at night. I started a thread in sleep and a fantastic mnetter got back to me with a clear plan - basically just keep taking him back to bed however many times as it takes. It has really worked - he is generally up once a night now (usually before we have gone to bed so fine, and quite often for a wee so can't argue with that!), although it did take time and a lot of commitment. We never actually got to the point of him sleeping in our bed so I imagine it may be harder to break that cycle with your dd if that's what she is now used to. I have to say I did feel like things were starting to go backwards a few weeks ago so changed his reward from 4 stars on his chart to get a toy to an instant treat every morning, guess what it has worked so he's a manipulative little so & so!! Wishing you all the very best, I'll try and do a link to the sleep thread but I have no idea how!!

[minimoonumbertwo]

bit.ly/eeHDOJ Hope this works

[minimoonumbertwo]

Sorry LaT one more thing, perhaps once dd's sleep has improved then you can tackle Daniel's - too much to do all at once!!

[latrucha]

Thanks for your responses. I'm still pondering them.

Did just want to say ...
Daniel took five steps today! It was a case of standing him in the middle of the floor and saying, 'come to mummy' but at nine and a half months old, I'm impressed. DD was almost 18 months before she did anything but cruise (and that includes crawling).

[greensnail]

Wow, that's impressive LaT. Alice seems to be working on her speech before she gets moving. She can now say quack, clap, (ba)nana, mama, dada and something that sounds like hiya.

Have spent all day at the beach today and am now a bit pink. Girls had a fab time, but I think Alice may have some very sandy nappies tomorrow!

[greensnail]

Oh and MM, I think DH is worried you may be right. I'm very broody at the moment, and was already pg with Alice by the time DD1 was the age Alice is now. The sensible part of me realises its a very bad idea for lots of reasons, and I think my body agrees and I can't see my periods returning any time soon as I'm still feeding DD1 all day and Alice all night!

LaT, I think your plan sounds sensible. Would be too much to take on at once in normal circumstances but I definitely think you should take advantage of the fact that DH is willing and able to turn his day and night back to front for a bit to get it sorted. Seems sensible to make the most of that and get them both sorted.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Yikes greensnail - 3 that close would be VERY hard work!
No more babies for me, so nobody hold their breath waiting for an announcement here.

Well done Daniel on the walking - very early! I thought that Jeremy was doing well managing to stand unsupported for a few seconds at a time, but that's nothing compared to Daniel.

Great talking too greensnail. We have just this week started to babble a bit - something that I don't particularly remember the other 2 doing, but I do love it when he does!

I think the misery and terrible sleep of the last 3 weeks might be down to me reintroducing bits of dairy to our diet (plus a bit of teething). We've had no dairy for a couple of days and he was much happier today, partic with some calpol for his teething. He actually took a daytime nap of 1hr 45 mins, which is about 1 hr 10 mins longer than he's managed for a while!!! So, no more dairy again for me.

Good luck with the move MM.

[minimoonumbertwo]

Wow greensnail that's amazing!!! A very eloquent little girl

[latrucha]

That's great Greensinail. I can't imagine Daniel uttering anything except 'mama' and (we think) 'papa' and disturbingly 'no' thanks to 3yo DD for a long time.

[goodname]

Greensnail think our babies are quite similar, Fergus is also much better at speaking than moving although he will walk all day holding on to me if I let him. Not finding much time to sit at a computer these days. I am glad to still be bf as it is the only peace I get :). He can say all the same things as alice apart from clap but he can also say baa and moo and woof woof altho moo and woof sound slmost the same. He calls all food nana which is cute. I love listening to him babble away.
Fergus does not like to be put down either but I can sometimes distract him with things he that are not toys like my phone or the contents of the kitchen cupboards. I think he is just bored rather than anxious and things will improve when he can walk on his own. He does the going so stiff you cant put him down thing as well.
His sleep has improved over the last 3 or 4 nights on its own with no intervention, think he is just having a rare period where he has no bugs or teeth coming through (he has 6 so far). He was only up once last night, twice night before and three times 2 nights before. All of which are classed as good here. Maybe all the walking around and all the fresh air we have been getting have helped as well. I am loving the better weather, it just makes life seem so much better.
La T I am sorry I do not have a good plan for sleeping but your idea sounds good and as you sound a bit desperate I would say its def worth a try.
Was planning on getting pregnant around about now but actually cant be bothered now. Not sure I can cope with this tiredness and being pregnant, never mind actually finding the time and energy to have sex!
How much food / milk are babies having these days. Think we are having more milk here than most. Fergus is very keen on his milk and has at least 4 feeds a day. Cannot actually imagine being able to stop feeding ever as think he would go mental. I do find that a little worrying although I dont actually wont to stop now its just before I had him I had sort of imagined having some sort of life back by now
Well done on improved napping CSWS and on napping in pram. Long may it continue.

[BraveGirl]

We survived our jaunt to Egypt without any major hiccups, but now trying desperately to re-establish the norm again. Sleep has also gone to pot, last night was particularly bad and I ended up feeding J twice in the night to settle him. J is showing little signs of wanting to reduce his milk intake and feeds up to 6 times a day still, normally nothing overnight, occasionally once. Is it me, am I missing signs? I don't know how to make the transition from miulk to solid - J is putting away lots of food 3 times a day. Where am I going wrong?!

[latrucha]

Just jumping back on. No movement on the sleep front yet as DH is away on business for a few days soon, and not much point trying anything until he gets back.

One thing I'd like to know is WHY Daniel wakes up so much when he CAN sleep (exasperated capitals, please excuse me). It's not teeth ATM, I'm giving him gripe water in case it's his tummy. I'm putting him down in his cot awake and patting him while he goes to sleep, so he does know how to do all of it. Is it just learning to walk / developmental?

[greensnail]

Could be I suppose Latrucha, I'm all out of answers when it comes to sleep. Am currently camped out in the bedroom. Alice appears to have settled herself to sleep, i'm in too much disbelief to leave her to it and go downstairs!

[whenwillisleepagain]

Hello, just catching up.

bravegirl it doesn't sound as though you are doing a single thing wrong. If J is so little relying on milk at night and eating 3 meals a day, that sounds very good from where I'm sitting. I'm on a big thing about milk and bf and transition too. Alice can settle herself to sleep but wakes after about 4 hrs (on a good night) and then latches on for the night. Obviously lots of this is about me not wanting to separate from her because she's my last baby, and there is, I am sure, something about the timing of my dad's death in December when there were a few days when the only way I could sleep was by bf so the sleepy hormones could do their thing. I think I am too quick to bf sometimes during the day as well, and when I do less of it, she clearly eats more. Sorry that is no answer to you at all, just me being baffled - or more accurately, indecisive about tackling the issue. And lat as you can see, I'm no use on sleep answers.

Can I ask a couple of questions:
Have the rest of you had 8-10 month developmental checks with HVs? (or at least been invited to them). I have had to push to get a date from the HVs and we are finally going next week - they are group sessions, although my friend who lives nearby has different arrangement for her HV patch, where you go individually. I'll be interested to see how big Alice is compared with other children, I had one of those not-very-helpful in the street encounters a few weeks ago where a woman asked me how old Alice was, and when I told her, went 'Oh My God, she's so tiny'. Thanks.

Is anyone else about to ditch the formula and move onto cows' milk? I think once we are through with the current tin of SMA powder, it will be only a few days from Alice's 1st birthday and I'll make the switch. It's not like she drinks masses of it - see my bf debate above.

Hope you're all having a good bank holiday

[BraveGirl]

Thanks WWISA - reassuring to know!

I think we're getting the sleeping pattern back again after the early mornings in Egypt - he's even slept until 7 or even 7.30 in the past couple of days.
Have to say I wasn't aware about an 8-10 month developmental check - is it in the red book or birth to five?
Thinking about it, I ought to get a date for J's 1 year check up - our Dr is v popular and it's coming around fast.

On a sad/happy/bizarre point, my periods returned this morning. J is alomst 11 months old, so now the question must be asked - will there be a number two. TBH, I really don't know... My mind is in turmoil. Having spoken to others, I know J has been relatively easy (a few sleep issues aside) so I'd be worried about number 2 being problematic. Then there's the cost... and the return to getting up every few hours in the night. But are 2 better than 1? Do they play nicer together? Do they entertain each other? DH and I both have siblings (and don't get on with 2 out of the 3) - is that the exception or norm? I'm just very confussed!

[greensnail]

How can we be in May already? Alice is going to be 1 this month - can't believe a whole year has gone by already.

We don't have an 8 month check here, they do it at 1 year instead, so will hopefully get Alice's soon. Not sure how they do it here. With DD1 it was 8 months and the HV visited us at home but we're in a different area now. Will be interested to see what they make of Alice. I don't have any concerns about her development but am starting to get comments from others about her not yet being mobile. Her 6 month old cousin is already a proficient crawler so that's highlighting the differences to me at the moment.

Alice has never had formula WWISA, but has had a couple of cups of cows milk in the last couple of weeks, just to see if she likes it really. She thinks its great for pouring over the table and playing with - much more fun than water . DD1 had cows milk while I was working from when she was 11 months, but she actually drank it.

Fairly certain my periods are on their way too BraveGirl. I love having 2 DD's, even though Alice is a much worse sleeper than DD1 was she's easier to entertain in the daytime and they do keep each other entertained. Its lovely to watch them together, they have their moments but generally are good at sharing and love to be together. They seem to have their own little language between them and often both laugh at something when I have no idea what the joke is. I really hope they grow up to be good friends.

[mampam]

Hi all.. It's been so long since I've checked in with you all.. TIlly's walking now and there really isn't any rest for the wicked

It's lovely to read about all of the (not so) little babies and I hope you don't mind me checking in after so long ????

[greensnail]

Mampam!! I'd been wondering how you are. Glad to hear all is well :)

Not seen filly around for a while. Hope she's ok. I expect she's busy being her very efficient self and catering for hundreds over the bank holidays.

Alice has been miserable today - hope we wake up to some new teeth tomorrow.

[greensnail]

oops, posted too soon. Has anyone thought what they're going to be getting for 1st birthday presents? I'm struggling a little for inspiration, everything I think of would probably be appreciated more by DD1 than Alice, although I suppose that's not such a bad thing as Alice won't really care and would save me feeling like I should buy a half birthday present for DD1.

[latrucha]

I think Filly's away.

Wish me luck ladies - DH is away so I am with the two of them in bed. DH has promised we'll get the sleeping sorted when he gets back, which involves putting them in the same room and going in to reassure etc. Anyone have strong opinions on whether to pick them up when they cry or not? I know you're nto supposed to but I'm sure this will be a fiasco with DS.

I got my periods back a few months ago. It was an umwelcome surprise. I wanted to say, 'What are you needed round here for?'

I have a little wooden train for D's birhtday. I bought it ages ago in a sale from Holz. It has stacking bits on it too. I'm thinking of buying a wagon like this as both DCs would love it. I'm also pondering some kind of post box game. Daniel is obsessed by putting things in other thigs ATM.

HI Mampam.

[Barbeasty]

We saw this recommended ladybird and have seen it in a local toy shop. It looks pretty good.

Mampam- good to hear from you.

La T- no idea about picking up, but I would have thought that the main thing is to be consistent.

Ruth has well and truly discovered chocolate. She found a melting cream-egg-sized egg at Easter and sucked it out through the foil. The lengths she will climb go to in order to get chocolate are astounding.

Hope everyone has had a good Easter and long bank holiday weekend.

[greensnail]

Good luck LaT! That wagon looks like a great idea, mine would love that too. Post box also a good idea, Alice very keen on putting everything in the potty at the moment so poor DD1 has to empty it before she can use it

[greensnail]

Ah, yes, wheelybugs are great barbeasty, a friend has one and it causes huge arguments whenever we visit her so I think I'd need two which would make it too expensive for us!

[latrucha]

greensnail - count yourself lucky re: potty. Daniel tries to get his head in there whenever DD sits down on it. He is fascinated. Poor dear is very hassled by it.

[greensnail]

Sounds fun . Alice also likes to move it just as she's about to sit down. I had the lady in the next cubicle in the sainsburys loos in hysterics the other day listening to me trying to get them both organised so DD1 could do a wee!