Crawling, sitting, standing..... any Olympians in the midst? ;)

[beaditAli]

Our spanking new thread ladies!

I always thought that once the spots appeared they aren't contagious anymore, the two weeks before the spots even appear are the most contagious and at that stage you don't even know they've got it so it can't be helped if you've been in contact with anyone. I could be wrong though. Either way i hope the spots clear up soon!

I feel utterly utterly horrible! Just done controlled crying with Grace and it was horrific. I know it's usually done for night time sleep but she always falls asleep having her last bottle and if we move that bottle forward she won't have it! So decided to do it for daytime sleep in the hope that it'll have a knock on effect for night time. It took half an hour and i never left her for more than 2 minutes each time but she isn't a cryer usually in fact my mum only heard her cry for the first time last weekend and she's 8 months old!! But she cried and cried before she fell asleep. Please someone tell me i'm not a shit parent doing this cause i have never felt more like one than i do now! I know it'll be better in the long run but i sat in my bedroom with my fingers in my ears cause i couldn't stand it. I'm going to see it through now cause otherwise this morning would have been pointless but i'm already dreading this afternoons nap

banana glad things are getting reasier re the dummy, on the bright side you only have to do it this once as Olly doesn't have one!!

They are contagious until the spots have scabbed newmum001. I used cc with ds1 and he settled himself to sleep most of the time after only 4 days and each time got shorter. I think that self-settling is a skill that they need to learn and at some point you have to let them do it. There was a program a while ago comparing 2 different styles of things (one was sleep training, another one getting someone back into work) and even the gentler version eventually left the child to cry they were just in the room with them. I know others don't agree and it is sooooooo hard to do but it worked for me, lucky that Luke has self settled from a very young age and I didn't need to do it again.

I was a bit when they want to diagnose over the phone bananacurry but they told me they wouldn't see him at the surgery so I had no other option!! Luckily one of my mum's is a nurse and she said it looked like early chicken pox but that they are usually on their back where ds1 actually didn't have any. They never blistered and as I said where back 2 weeks later so clearly not chicken pox!

It's not really going to plan, she's asleep on the sofa now. She had 45 minutes in her cot though but she usually has an hour and a half for her morning nap so she was still tired when she woke up but wouldn't go back to sleep, and she was due a bottle so was hungry. I brought her down gave her a bottle and she sat still next to me for half an hour on the couch which she never does then put her head on my arm and fell asleep, again she's never ever done that before. So she's off track for her afternoon nap now which means she'll probably fall asleep having her 3pm bottle so don't think i'll get another oppertunity for cc today. I probably shouldn't be letting her sleep on the couch now seeing as thats what i'm trying to get away from but nevermind. It's a learning curve for both of us!! Try again tomorrow!

Well, I did go to the docs this morning despite the above - I was going to go for my appt anyway, so it was more a question of whether I would expose anyone / annoy the doc by talking about Aphra's cp as well as my scalp cyst. He reckons she does have it and he pointed out that one of the first spots seemed to be blistering / scabbing so that's what I need to be looking out for with the others. She's still coming up with new spots though so I guess it'll be a while yet.

Beadit, no clues on the carseats, sorry.

newmum, good luck with the sleeping & cc. I'm sure that taking it easy and letting her nap on the couch initially won't do any harm in the long run!

Well attempt two was even harder than attempt one but it worked!! As suspected she fell asleep having her 3pm bottle so i took her up to her cot and she woke up the second her head touched her mattress but was still doing lots of eye rubbing and yawning so i figured i might as well give it another go as rocking her would have only undone everything we did this morning, so it took an hour this time but she's now fast asleep on her tummy. She normally has her afternoon nap 2.30pm-4pm ish so we're way off schedule for today and bedtime will be quite late but i expected that! I am in desperate need of a tonight though.

Beadit also not got a clue on those seats, we got a kiddicare midi for half price (£40 instead of £80) a lot cheaper than the others we were looking at but we're very pleased with it. My only concearn was that the reviews said the recline function was quite difficult to get to grips with but i've found it quite simple.

newmum do you let Grace play in her cot? I find that keeping the cot just for sleeping in and not for playing really helps Jack associate it with sleep and 90% of the time he's put in it he just cuddles into his comforter and is away with the Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs.
Strangly the self settling for Jack happened at the same time as us stopping with the dummy but I think it was a lot to do with his throat infection early in the year. He slept such a lot for a week that after that he was a doddle to put to bed and with no dummy! Yay
He did sleep well before that but would often wake to be cuddled again then put down.
I really don't think the cc will take you long and in 2 weeks you'll be so pleased you did it!
I think seachelle did it successfully around January??? Might be wrong but could ask her for tips on what worked for her.

Am so bamboozled with car seat options! I wish there was just one on the market so we didn't have to make a decision!

Thinking about sassy I wonder if she's a lurker? Shame she's not on here any more.

Shattered today..... DH's broken arm is still being a pain and so he's not washed up, changed nappies etc etc for 3 weeks am shattered tho the weekend was self inflected tiredness so s'pose I'm being a whingy bum ! heee heeeeee

beadit we have a tobi. I haven't used it yet so don't know much about it. All I do know is that it sits really high. Even in my big car it's very high so in a normal car you'd probably find it annoying.

newmum I would never have thought I'd want to do cc but I'm starting to think I might. Orlaith was self settling no problem when she was about 6 weeks till 3 months and then we just went backwards completely. When I put her down (asleep or awake) she rolls over, pushes herself up, cries and it all seems kind of involuntary. It's obvious she wants to just go to sleep but just can't. So frustrating! And as she's been waking anywhere from 2 to 5 times in the night, I just don't feel like I've got the energy to do anything productive about it.

Our weekend away was a bit of a disaster: stormy weather for 3 days + tiny caravan for 8 people = a rubbish holiday. DP's planning a foreign holiday with guaranteed sunshine and no family around!

Grrrr just lost a massive post!! Never mind...!

In summary.....

Newmum sorry didn't have to do CC in the end as he settled himself really well. He has been sleeping through 7-7 for a little while now, apart from last night as he had a poorly belly... If he does wake however then I check he is not wet/dirty, hot/cold or poorly etc and as long as he has had cuddles from DP or I initially and still wont settle then I do just leave him to get on with it. And to be fair it never takes more than 3 mins for him to settle back off when we do this as he is just waiting to see if one of us will come back! And when we dont he just seems to think "ah feck it! I'll go back to sleep!"

One other thing I would say is anyone who's LO's have a dummy then defo do the 4 or 5 dummies in the cot trick at night - since I started putting a few dummies in his cot with him his sleep has been 100% improved. He just grabs one and goes back to sleep.

Out of interest how many babies are still feeding in the night? Obviously as he has been sleeping through he hasn't been having a feed in the night - just has one at 7 when he wakes. But I am now of the stance that if he does start waking again then its not from hunger as he's proven that he can go without for over a week and half, so I hope not to be doing any night feeds anymore. Obviously if he's been off colour or not eaten much in the day then I would give him one if he wanted it though.

Oliver has been doing squats today! He keeps climbing up my legs to a standing position then dropping his dummy so instead of just sitting back down to get it he does a full on one hand holding on squat to pick it up - its well funny!

I love him looooooaddds!!

Olly 7.5 months + a little bit!

saoirse it really has been hell today but i honestly am at the end of my tether. My back is in bits from rocking her to sleep (she won't even lay in my arms and go to sleep she needs major encouragement EVERY time she goes to sleep) and she weighs too much for me to keep doing that. She's waking at least once every night and sometimes is up for 2 hours. I really haven't got any energy at all! I only made the decision to do CC last week having thought previously that it is cruel etc but i wanted to start it today as i know DP wouldn't be able to handle it so wanted to wait till he was in work but literally every time i left her to cry i sat on my bed with my fingers rammed in my ears cause i couldn't stand hearing her. Having said that i do honestly think it is my only option. PU/PD wouldn't work on her she's far to senstive to everything and the PU bit would just make her giddy. I must admit i am quite proud of myself for sticking to it but it has been horrible and it's only just the beginning. I muust admit i'm kind of dreading her waking tonight now!

Beadit i occasionally put her in her cot with a toy if i'm putting her clothes away but it's once in a blue moon, i usually just sit her on the floor so she shouldn't really associate it with anything other than sleep. I've even had to take her mobile off it cause it gets her too excited so theres no distractions in there at all. I'll see if Chelle's on FB later and have a chat.

Oooh your there chelle, grace hasn't had night feeds since she was about 2.5 months but now she's waking more at night i do offer her a bottle on the nights she's taking ages to settle but only as a last resort when i've tried everything else and she clearly never wants it. She'll drink a bit just to humour me but she's not really interested! If he wakes up and nothing else settles him then maybe try him with one but if i were you id probably just assume your night feeding days are over! She won't have a dummy either

Olly does 6.30-5-7! On a very odd occasion he'll wake around 1 and just not settle back so he has a bottle. It tends to be for a reason tho, a strange place, teething, something like that. I just wish he'd drop the 5am one!

No experience on cc sorry newmum You're not a bad mum for doing it tho. It'll pay off in the end.

Olly's perfected sitting himself up now. He's been doing it all day. I can't believe how fast he's changing. I did meet a baby today who was younger than Olly but bigger than ds1! 27lb at 7 months

Sassy has posted on facebook! She's obviously ok. Just wonder how she's getting on!

Comixminx If she's still coming out in spots she's still contagious. If they do start to bother her, cool baths help. I found that cos ds1 couldn't scratch he just sat & smacked himself!

Oh banana, I have noticed Aphra smacking herself a little bit just recently - that probably explains why. Mind you sometimes it's more a case of her playing with things and then ending up hitting herself over the head with them by mistake!

chelle, Aphra is still having night feeds and plenty of them. She is eating more than she was before, but it's still pretty small quantities compared to bf.

Beadit, interesting point about not putting them in the crib for playing - it certainly sounds sensible but I do find it very handy if I need to go off and do something for a few minutes! Hmm. Well, if I find she's having problems with her sleeping I can think about that I suppose.

Luke is mostly sleeping through 7.30-6.30 but he does wake up some nights and seems to just want milk, either at 11 or 4. I know exactly what you mean about if they can sleep through mostly then they don't need milk the other nights but having said that if I feed him he goes straight back to sleep and all I have to do is pop a boob out not make a bottle. I do worry that I am getting him into bad habits to expect a feed when he wakes and I should break the cycle but it's not that often and it's very quick! I do feel that he's still pretty small and he may happen to be hungry that night and I don't want to deprive him. Ds1 slept through from 14 weeks so this is all new to me!!!!

I hope Olly doesn't start to associate his cot with play time! Thats my saviour in a morning. If he doesn't settle back after his 5 feed I put all his toys in there, sit him up & leave him to get on with it. If ds1 then wakes up, he climbs in and plays too. I then go back to bed till 7! [bad mummy]

Arlo goes 6.30-6.30 now, no night feeds for about the last 6 weeks. Very occasionally he wakes up earlier, but rarely before 6 and if he does he often does one cry then drops back off. Hope I don't experience the MN jinx now!

Arlo 7.5 months...32? weeks I think

comix we have a travel cot set up as a play pen which Jack adores being in and is so so so so handy for me to dump him in when i have stuff to do. I'ts looking a bit camp at the mo tho cos I've adorned it with bunting!

On the waking in the night issue: Jack has gone from a month of sleeping 7-7 to waking for a feed at 4-5am ish then going back to sleep for 2 hours.
I'm sure he had a growth spurt just afetr the 7 month mark so put it down to that but it's TRES annoying. Last night however he projectiled the whole bottle back up and I think it must be because for the first time during the day yesterday he'd had solid lumps of pasta and breads etc so think he'd filled up much more.
I'm not sure if he is actually hungry now in the night but he usually wakes anyway cos he's head butting the end of the cot and since he has a helmet on I reckon sarahbears and Daisy can hear him 3 doors away!

I don't care if i get the MN jinx (well i do a bit) but Grace slept 8-7 last night!!!!! She went down no trouble and never made a peep till 7am she's normally awake at 6 so not only have i had a full nights sleep but also a lie in

Day 2 of CC, i feel a tad sick about it but we'll see what happens today.

Beadit if i had any spare room id set the travel cot up as a play pen, i usually just sit Grace on my bed surrounded by pillows when i need to get something done but she's not crawling yet so it's probably not the best idea for moving babies!

Just a quickie to let you all know I spoke briefly to Sassy and she has a new smartphone so is going to be back soon and try and catch up but DP/DH is off to Afgahnistan next week so she is spending all week with him obviously.

I have sent her the new thread link so she should be able to find us.

Can I feed Olly mince cooked in boddingtons???????

lumpy he'll probably sleep well if you do! perhaps be ready for hiccups too heeeee heeeeeee

chelle well done you for catching sassy hope she does rejoin us. My cousin has just had a little boy and her DH is a major in the army so she has really struggled on her own with two dogs as well. Must be hard for services wags
chelle love love love your latest pics of His Gorgeousness! Where are your mini jigsaw letter/numbers from? I can only find mahooooosive ones.

Mum taking Jack today yippppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i'm going to bed as soon as she leaves mmmmmmmmmmmmmm sleeeeeeeeeeep!

lumpy i would imagine so but i'm no expert. Alcohol burns off during cooking doesn't it? See what cinnamon says she is always handy with things like this

beadit yay for daytime sleep!

CC update - 7 minutes of mild crying, 4 minutes of whinging and Grace is fast asleep in her cot. My clever girl!!!!! Saoirse i know your thinking about it and i don't think for one second that Grace has cracked it yet or that it will be this easy every time but i really wish id done this a while ago. I know it's quite controversial and i've read some pretty strong oppinions on here but i genuinly think it was the right choice for me!

Well newmum I'm glad last night went well for you.

Orlaith went to sleep last night at 9.30, woke at 1.30, 4.15, 6, 7.30 and then at 8. She didn't want to wake up properly at 8 but I couldn't bear to have to settle her again so just woke her up.
She was clearly still tired so went for a nap at 10.10. She fell asleep while I was feeding her so I took her upstairs and she woke as I put her down (as usual). She started crying a bit but I decided not to give in to giving her the bottle back and gave her a little pat and then held my hand on her and she went to sleep after a couple of minutes and slept till 11.30. Not exactly cc but I think I'm going to start with not giving her a bottle to settle her. She's got another cold so I feel it's a bit mean to do cc just yet unless I get far too stressed about it all.

I know cc is controversial but I agree that it's something you do as a last resort when you can't get anything else to work. I think it's hard to judge anyone else's decision on it unless you've experience the relentless sleepless days and nights yourself. I know people say it leads to a detached relationship but I can't really see how doing it for a couple of weeks can have such a huge impact, especially if you make them feel loved the rest of the time. I think if I decide to do it, it'll be the best thing for all of us. It's not fair on her either that she's always tired.

Anyway, we're going to the university gardens today with some other mums and babies. It's a bit dull here so we might end up sitting in the cafe for most of the time, I could do with a good cup of tea!

beady they are off ebay. I could have done with the massive ones to be honest as we have an ongoing battle to stop him picking them up to try and eat them! Thanks - he is gorgeous! Got some cracking photos yesterday!

Just put him down for a nap - toying with the idea of cleaning our room (i think we had carpet once?!) or going for a lay down.....

Morning everyone

Louis is in the nursery today, so I have a day off (well apart from popping over to feed him at 10.30am and 2.30pm). Unfortunately the house is a complete tip, and the washing has piled up (Louis had to wear the new, unwashed yet outfit his gran just bought him today as there wasn't anything else clean ), so I've got a fun day of cleaning and tidying on the cards, yea! [sarcastic emoticon]

Louis is doing ok at the nursery cinnamon. He sometimes crys a bit when I leave him, but I walk past the window of his room on the way out and he's always stopped by then (please no mumsnet curse on that one). He's often whining, sometimes crying , when I go in to feed him/pick him up, but the staff promise me he isn't like that the whole time I'm away. He seems to eat well and sleep ok while he's there, so that's something. Hopefully as he gets more used to it he'll enjoy himself more.

I'm glad the CC seems to be working for you newmum. It's a horrible thing to have to do, but if you all end up sleeping better it will be good in the long run. Louis' sleep has been even worse just recently - he has started waking up between 4.30 and 5.30am, despite the blackout blind, and just wont resettle unless we bring him into bed with us (and even then he sometimes lies there whacking me in the face/pinching DP for an hour). That said, he only woke up at 2am for a feed last night, then went until 4.30, which was much better than usual . I don't want to do CC, and we're not quite desperate enough yet, but we're running out of other ideas .

banana DP and me always argue disagree about cooking with booze. Although the alcohol should all evaporate as it has a lower boiling point than water, you would have to let it bubble away (with the lid off) for a long time to be sure that it had all gone..

Right, the first load of washing has just finished, better go and hang it out

has the display of the thread changed on anyone else's computer? Grace lunged at it before while i was typing something and now it's all on one page with the newest posts at the top. Just wondered if she'd managed to press something or if MN have been changing things.

Afternoon nap took less than 10 minutes to settle, minimal crying and just a bit of whinging! She's fallen asleep in a funny position though so i suppose the true test is will she wake up, get comfy and go back to sleep??