Just mumming (viroids 1)

[fraktious]

So we don't scare the viroids on the antenatal thread with horror stories of no sleep, chomped boobs and endless laundry or make them envious with tales of cuteness....

Thanks for the link esk. The weather never cheered up here today. Had a pj day. Got baby group tomorrow, so hopefully a nicer day. Satellite signal is gone. Would really appreciate being able to watch some telly this evening.

Fvp that's good that it's bringing your ds back to retry some foods. Not so good on the sleep front though. Surely by odds one of us should have a sleepy baby!

Looking at the blog, I already like and use Pantley techniques. For some reason I can't abide the baby whisperer. Her tone and choice of words really grates.

It interesting about how better naps leads to better sleep at night. Ds always wakes up during the day after 30 minutes and when he first goes down at 7pm. I can set my watch by it.

What naps are your ds taking at the moment? I think I might start keeping a diary again like in the early days. Though it is hard to monitor naps when he is snacking and snoozing from 4am

*should say what naps are everyone's dc taking?

Rant alert!!

I was that person who got caught in the torrential rain and wind earlier today. DS had his neurology appointment (for his droopy eyelid) so I had no choice :( I looked like I had stepped out of the shower. Only just thawing out now! All 'good' at the appointment though. Nice consultant. Probably nothing to worry about but he still referred us to the opthamolgist, for an MRI and MRA and some sort of thing where they stick a needle in the muscle by his eye to see if it is a nerve or a muscle issue He had to have a blood test too which was conducted by two horrible nurses. They were restraining him, prodding him and failing to find a vein (bad veins like his mama). I nearly thumped them. DS was sooooo upset. I felt like such a bitch even being there let alone holding him whilst it all went on. He was so upset and had been in such a state he slept for 3 hours . Can't stop cuddling him now.

You would think one of us would have the sleepy or ideal baby wouldn't you? Although you could look at it the other way and realise all babies are erratic!

DS is a good-ish napper. He has a cat nap for about 20 mins around 10am and then a snooze around 11-11:30 and one around 14-14:30. Some times these are 2+ hours. Most of the time they are around an hour. We have had two excellent nights where he has only woken once. He normally wakes at least twice, no matter what time he goes down. And like your DS CC he often goes down around 7:30 only to wake 30-40 mins later for 10 or so mins ad similar around 9-9:30. He then tends to go through until around 3am. After that he naps and eats.

At 4 months I have no inclination to give up BF until at least 6 months and then probably beyond. I have totally selfish moments where I think I would love to just go and get trashed and wished I bottle fed...but then it's not like I could be in charge of a baby! Plus I totally adore our BF moments. Even the night time ones (well, some of the time!) I like it is something only I can do

When the time comes I think I will combine purees with BLW but to be honest I have done no reading on this what so ever so I want to read up on it first. I want DS to be as involved with meals as possible with us.

Agree about baby whisperer, can't stand the faux Yorkshire dialect, sounds so daft, even though that's where I grew up and am quite used to being called "duck"' "love" and the like. Having said that, pick up put down did work for us to get dd to sleep in her own bed for a few weeks.

Naps are still a bit all over the place. Generally though there will be a long nap (up to 2 hours) in the morning and another about an hour in the afternoon. Depending on the timing of these there might be meltdown followed by a crash nap in the late afternoon, prob only 20-30 mins.

I am going to try to go back to a consistent get-up time now DH is back at work, as I do think that helped

A very justified rant. Your poor little one. It's amazing how some nurses/doctors can do these things with minimum fuss and others cause so much stress. I am sure he is loving getting extra cuddles now.

Well, the blood test may have been traumatic but he slept for 6 HOURS STRAIGHT last night from 11:30-5:30, then from 5:30-6:30 and 6:30-10:30...should have probably woken him but rather enjoyed my morning potter and a shower on my own!!

Not holding my breath for this being anything other than a fluke!

Should have added, he was Satan's child between 8pm and 11:30. You win some....

Cross posted with you esk. Ditto on the consistent get up times. The evening plan is still going well. Dh is away for three nights so need to try and stick to it.

It just shows how much energy crying can take. Still of 6 hours uninterrupted sleep.

It's miserable here but really want to get out the house. Thinking about putting ds in his stroller. He is too big for bassinet, don't like him being in car seat to often and waterproof cover hasn't arrived for carrier yet. Normally use umbrella for light showers but it's raining sideways out there! Does anyone know of the reason why they can be upright in carseat for up to two hours, but not on a lower reclined stroller before six months old?

X-posted with you val. Your poor baby. Hope he's alright today and doesn't remember any of it.

To add insult to injury on the whole sleep thing, dd's nappies keep on leaking in the last phase of the night. She was definitely not soaked when I put her I. Out bed at around 5.45 both yesterday and today, yet she and I and the bed were all saturated with pee by the time she woke. It's bad enough as it is, waking every hour or two through the night without having to go back to getting up to change nappies.

I've been reading a lot about milk supply and weaning. Dd is insatiable day and night. She has both breasts at every feed because she pulls off and screams after what seems like a short perios of time. She latches on and off, getting really angry with the breast until I swap her to the other side then she drinks furiously for a few minutes then does the same again. I can't get her to go back on the first side either at that stage, and to be fair to her, I can't squeeze anything out either. So when she was clearly really hungry an hour after being fed this afternoon I fed again, both sides then gave her a bottle of formula. She guzzled 5 ounces then promptly fell asleep. I really didn't want to start "topping up" because that's supposed to be a bad habit that really undermines bf. but she was starving, and has been for a couple of weeks now. I understood that supply and demand should mean I catch up with her in a growth spurt but surely that takes place over a couple of days not weeks. Nipples are battered and bruised in a way they weren't even when she was a newborn due to the abuse she gives them in trying to get more milk out.
She had "hungry baby formula as her bedtime drink tonight (she normally has regular formula" so will see if that buys me any more sleep. Though to be honest it's not the sleep that would drive me to change things, it's the thought of her being constantly hungry..

Sorry for another long ramble

Can you speak to the HV Esk for advice? I don't know what to say!

Anyone watching OBEM? Woooooaaahhh I nearly cried at the start!! Def more emotional watching it having 'just' been through it

Is anyone using a dummy? We tried with DS when he was about 9 or 10 weeks old. He wasn't interested so we gave up.

I bought a 3-6 month old one today as for the past couple of nights he has settled himself sucking on my finger. It's just taken me an hour to settle him back but he finally accepted the dummy. I hate that I have given him one but at the same time i wanted a 'weapon' for my plane arsenal Can I have some reassurance?? Or someone to tell me to take it of him???

I won't tell you to take it off him unless you want me to! Dd has had a dummy on and off from early on. She only really uses it at night now. I only ever let her have it for sleeping, though that could be on me, in buggy, car etc. She now just uses it to calm down in a big meltdown.
Isn't it supposed to be good for babies to suck to help combat changes in pressure when flying. Though you could bf during take off and landing to help that.

I think I will go to the bf clinic tomorrow and see what they say. I'm not sure what I'm more afraid of - that they tell me to persist or to relax and give more formula or baby rice etc. of course in the end it's my (and dh's) choice, but would feel better if told what to do!

I know what you mean about being told what to do! I would welcome and resent it in equal measures most of the time We are approaching weaning time, so it could be she is just ready?

As for the dummy...we are having a shite night here. He just won't settle at the moment

I was planning on BF feeding on take off and landing, although he is so easily distracted I am not sure how it will work!

Esk, I highly recommend copying your posts and creating a thread in the feeding section. Sorry I don't have any answers.

Val, I gave ds a dummy for car journeys, but he never got the hang of holding it in. Don't use it now he has his DVD player . I am the last person to tell anyone about what to give or not give dc!

For the flight I found it helpful to feed on landing and take off as esk says. Actually just feeding as much as possible. Make sure you have plenty of water as it is thirsty work flying and breastfeeding. I would highly recommend having a new toy for ds for the flight.

Thanks! Son pleased DS is finally taking an interest in toys too!

Any advice on giving him cooled boiled water whilst we are away? I understand hot weather and AC can be really dehydrating. Or just BF as much as poss?

I only flew to London, so no warm weather problems. Frak will probably have lots more advice.

How was last night esk? Ds fed from 4am again this morning. Dh is away so I went back to bed while ds had morning nap. I think the wild weather is not helping him have a good sleep.

Every 2 hours all through the night. Really struggling to get her back into bed too. I can't seem to find the point between calm enough to put down and asleep. If it exists it is seconds long. She out-peed her nappy again so I had to get up at 4 to change it. But I do think we woke her when we went to bed so I'm now wondering about setting up the cot in her room and putting her down in that until she first wakes then moving her into the crib in our room. I do firmly believe that if I could sort the self-settling then we'd be doing better.
She's as happy as the proverbial Larry this morning though, and not particularly hungry so I really don't know what's going on.

I also tried feeding her milk from a doidy cup which she was bewildered by, and off a spoon (thinking baby rice), which just annoyed her. She still clearly has her tongue thrust reflex so I guess spoon feeding is still out for a while.

No idea about water etc I'm afraid val. I would recommend a little maraca as a new toy. I bought dd one from early learning yesterday for a whole £1.75 and she thinks it's the funniest thing ever! She gets that she's supposed to shake it but hasn't quite got the grip sorted yet so does a couple of shakes then it flies off somewhere :o

What kind of nappy are you using at night?

As my ds and your dd are acting so similar it really makes me think it is a long growth spurt. The 4 month sleep regression can start early and end late. My action plan is to keep offering feeds as much as possible during the day. We are co-sleeping from the first wake up so no useful advice on returning to cot.

When do you have your weaning talk. Ours is next week. Ds can grab and put things in his mouth but is no where near sitting up.

Old style bamboozles with a bamboo booster and a motherease wrap. I was thinking of going up to a size 2 but then the wrap doesn't fit over and the next size up doesn't seal round her skinny little legs!

Weaning talk is 25th jan at our local children's centre, which I had been planning on going to as dd will be 5 months then. But there's one on monday at another nearby centre which I might go to instead. Dd puts things in her mouth and sucks/chews on them. She watches me like a hawk when I eat and tries to grab food from my plate. She doesn't sit up independently but is rock solid in her bumbo and can do a few seconds of "yoga sitting" - leaning forward holding her ankles- independently. She was nearly 2 weeks late, so she should have been 5 months on 14th jan. that's next week...

Going to the talk sooner sounds like a good idea. Will give you more time to decide how to approach weaning. Ds isn't the right shape for his bumbo and ends up slouching in it (whilst trying to eat the table).

Is heavy wetting or do you think the nappies need stripped? Have you considered using disposables for a couple of nights to give you one less thing to worry about? Ds can go all night in a pampers size 3. Using reusable nappies during the day now and the cheeky wipes full time, so don't feel as bad.

Fingers crossed for a better night sleep for us all tonight and our Velcro babies.

Valinna, I used a pacifier for DD for a month or so a while back as her first 2 teeth were making her impossible! Thankfully they don't even get a look in now. It says something that even DH accepted them at her worst!

As for cool boiled water and baby in hot weather, def a good idea. From a bottle or a sippy cup (if LO will take one). They don't need much, but it can make all the difference, esp if you're not used to the heat and getting dehydrated too.

Out weeing nappies usually means they need to go up a size in my experience (usually right after I've started a new giant pack of disposables in my case!).

Took the DCs to the panto yesterday and DD loved it! She was laughing and shrieking and avidly watching all the action (well until she passed out in the second half). It's good to know I can take her to that sort of thing and not have to listen to 2+ hours of screaming!

Esk a thought occured to me today. You could give the National Breast Feeding hotline a call. I recall a couple of the girls in my June antenatal thread saying they had called them and they had been really good. Got their bfing issues sorted with out having to give up bfing.