August 2005 babies enter a new year!

[Miaou]

A new thread for the new year!

Here is a link to the old one.

Hello August mums

Noah was weighed today and everything was fine, his weight was 16lb8 and he hasn't dropped any more percentiles, he is also sleeping better and usually only waking once between 7 pm-6am (please continue like this baby!). Dazedandconfusedmum I am not sure if the gaviscon is helping as I only give it with one bottle of formula, a bit of a token gesture I guess but he takes the bottle more easily than he ever has in the past. I think the colief before breastfeeds has helped the most. He is 23 weeks now so almost time for solids and I am really looking forward to it, such a big milestone

Ds and I went to kew gardens with some of the mums and babies from a mother and baby group the other day; it helps getting out and about with other mums, and I am getting lots more squishy in the tummy feelings for ds .

Did anyone else watch horizon tonight about recurrent miscarriages, it was lovely when that girl finally had her baby.

All you exercise queens keep up the good work

Pookey, I was at Kew last week - DS1 loves the play area Climbers and Creepers.

C&CsMommy the guidelines for weaning are rather confusing. My health visitor advised me to start at 4 months because "very few babies can make it to 6 months". The health visitor of my friend with a baby of similar age told her not to start until 6 months. She started her baby at 5 months and the baby went crazy gobbling up the food. I think you need to trust your instinct - it sounds like Caitlin is ready.

DS2 has become very smiley recently and laughs & giggles out loud, which is really rewarding. Still not sleeping well, though.

Hiya everyone!

Well, after feeding ds for the fourth time during the night last night, I decided things have to change and I need to be firm! So today dh and I have really tried to structure his day and will continue to do so. The routines that some of you have got going already have really helped me in decided just what he needs at this stage (as opposed to wants!). Sooooo - we are going with:

7am wake and feed (seems to be a fairly natural waking time)
7.30am breakfast
9.00 nap for an hour
11.30am feed then lunch
12.30 - 2.30 nap (today it was a 1 hour nap followed by another one at 3pm because we were at my mums for lunch)
3.00 feed
5.00 feed then tea
6.00 bathtime
7.00 feed then bed.

I think it will need some tinkering - at 5.00 he was so tired that I put him down for another hour, then got him up to give him his tea etc so he was in bed by 8pm. He is used to sleeping much more than this during the day (which I think may be contributing to the problem). But I think that starting with some guidelines then tinkering with them as necessary will be more effective than the current "let him find his own way" - because he clearly isn't!!!

It has just demonstrated to me for the first time that having had two children previously has put me at a disadvantage - I had too many preconceptions about what should happen and how, as both dds fell into their own natural routine, and I just expected ds to do the same!

I will update you on progress (or lack of!)

Meant to add - no way in heaven do I expect him to sleep through the night until 7am (in case you think I am off with the fairies!!) but I am going to limit feeds to (maybe) one at 11/12am and one at 4am, with the aim of eventually cutting out altogether. We'll see . I've asked dh to encourage me to be firm - it's just sooo much easier to pick him up and plonk him on the boob!

I know what you mean, Miaou. Colin did such a good job of just going with the flow and not needing a routine it never really crossed my mind that Caitlin really needs to live by a strict one to function properly. I now know why everyone said he was such an easy child. (and still is!) Hope you have more success. I don't think you're mean at all for trying to cut back on his night feeds. I won't feed Caitlin before 2 am if she wakes up, because I know that she doesn't need it. (But I would if it was obvious for some reason she did)

We started her on a bit of rice cereal last night. I think she was quite ready for it. She did a really good job of eating, and ate the whole little bit that I made for her and cried for more. I think we'll just stick with that for a bit before introducing something else, since she's not quite 5 mo. yet, but she definitely is ready for the solids thing. I'm so excited because I got an immersion blender thingy for X-mas. It is basically a motor and then has several attachments, and one of those is a small food-processor that would be perfect to make smallish amounts of purees.

Sounds like my blender, c&cmommy, it's fab! I love it.

Well, ds just woke and yelled, and I ignored him ... and he went back to sleep within 5 minutes! And usually I would have gone straight up and fed him - what a loon . I will need nerves of steel at 3am though... dh will keep me on the straight and narrow I think

And to anyone that says "that's boys for you" I say pffffffffffftttttttt .... it's just horses for courses, isn't it!!!

Hi everyone ... the joys of laptop computers. i'm typing in bed although should be alseep its DH's laptop from work but he hasnt used it all weekend. hello to all the new names and apologies that i havent caught up on my reading. hope everyone is well

Miaou, thats DD2 routine with an added 11pm feed and she's up at 3am and 5am at the moment. she has about 3 naps of 45 mins each and then 15-30 mins from 4-5pm. it seems to work well and the sleep at 4pm seems to make her more tired for 7pm bed. its great, i feel like i have my evenings back now. the night waking will stop (she did for a while) but then got ill and now teeth and growth spurt etc... its a killer though when they've done from 11pm-6.00am and then stop.

Its a flu ridden household at the moment. DH has been off work most of last week and still not much better. DD1's got a cough and runny nose, DD2 has got a runny nose and i've got a cough and sore thoart in the evenings. Does anyone else feel they've been sick all winter??

On the plus side of things, we've decied to get a new car and went for a test drive a 4x4 even though we live in london?!?!? it was nice but felt strange not diving our big sports car - it'll be hard to say goodbye to it but DH & I have realised that we actually have a family and its not practical. DD1 loves the 4x4 and kept asking if we were taking it home and threw a tantrum in the showroom when we had to leave....

life is finally feeling like it has a routine and i'm beginning to feel settled and make friends again. dd1 has more activities so feel like her driver already and dd2 is lovely. she is SO SO smilely to everyone. she's sitting very well and even begining to make movements such as lifting her bum when lying on her front. she can rotate herself has has started to go backwards a little bit.... hmmmm

well that went better than I thought it would! He woke and cried briefly a couple of times, and I fed him at 2am - but he only fed for 5 minutes then fell asleep again, which I thought was really encouraging (it was more for my benefit than his, I was totally engorged!!). He woke at 6.15am for his next feed (having woke for a little cry around 4am). Can't believe he went back to sleep so easily. I'm a mug for getting up and feeding him in the night for so long! Long may it continue

Blossom, I must have missed it, are you back in London permanently now? I thought you were still in Paris....sorry!Ds is just the same as your dd - a very happy, smiley baby. He can turn himself over (but most of the time chooses not to!), and moves backwards a bit when he is on his tummy. He can sit a bit on his own but tends to fall over sideways!

Is anyone having their babies baptised? (Or have you already?). Ds is being baptised next Sunday. Our minister is retiring and it is his last service - a nice note to finish on, we thought. We are just having a very quiet do, no Godparents, and soup and a roll back at our house afterwards.

Miaou, that's great news! What a clever ds for sleeping so much better.

DS2 has now doubled his birth weight, he weighs 19lb 2oz. His skin has improved but the HV has suggested getting him referred to a dermatologist and taking him to Birmingham Children's Hospital as they're supposed to be very good. If he gets very bad again I think I might, but at the momnet he seems to be OK.

We're having ds2 baptised, but not until May as things are a bit up in the air with dh's business so we want to wait until things had settled down a bit. We'll have friends round for a party and welcome ds2.

Maiou you must be delighted,what a difference a bit of sleep makes.

we have had a couple of off days, Friday night didnt go down till 11 and wanted fed again at 1, then slept till 9.30 fed and went back to sleep till 12.30, continued to sleep most of the day.

We were swimming again today, which resulted in a 3 hour nap after, dd loves swimming and being in the water but hates when you walk into the changing area, she gets hysterical, until she gets in the pool then giggles her head off, not sure what to do, maybe if i take her to the toddlers session when there is no one in she will be ok, i think its just the noise, i feel such an awful mother as she breaks her heart and wont be soothed in anyway.

Havent had dd christened, havent looked into if getting done would get the retired minister who married us, to do it, as the ministers in the churches here, for one reason and another we wouldnt have do it.

how do you guys get your babies to sleep for more than 45 minutes during the day?!??!? any tips would be appreciated.

DD2 sleeps little during the day and wakes twice during the night - what am i doing wrong!??!?
tried not going to her and she just screams and if we do go but not feed, she takes ages to settle ...

Had another good night with ds (sorry, not meaning to rub it in with those who are still up a lot, just need to share!). He went to bed 7.30pm, woke for a feed at about 11pm, and then slept right through until 7.30am! In fact I woke him up then. (I however was awake at 4am with rock boobs ). Think we might have cracked it.

The key was realising that I have to wake him when he is still asleep to prevent him sleeping too long, and that I need to put him down to sleep even if he doesn't appear to be tired. The "schedule" is working out quite well, as a loose framework.

Blossom, I wish I had some advice for you but I don't - maybe try starting a thread in the sleep section asking for advice?

Hi All

Miaou really pleased your routine is working

Josey well done for braving the swimming pool, I can't bear the thought of being in a swimming cossie yet

Blossom my baby only sleeps for more than half an hour during day if I take him out in his pram, its a shame because I can't get much housework done He is waking once at the mo which is ok.

Blossom......my ds is a 20 minute napper..i don't get any housework done either as soon as he closes his eyes i put on the kettle, and log on with a cuppa. he is so high maintenance when he is awake, he cannot amuse himself at all and i spend every waking moment handling/playing with him.
last few days have been particularly hard as he is teething and so clingy and grizzly. he has a definite bump on his gum now.........just wish the tooth would break through, its taking FOREVER!!
glad your routine is falling into place Miaou...

right he's waking up so i'd better go.....

Hi All

I am glad to hear some more of you are cracking the night time sleeps and are becoming part of the "sleeping Mummys" club

Blossom2 the only thing that I do re sleeping during the day is to put him down at the same time each day and leave him to sleep. He got used to his routine very quickly and learned that if he didn't sleep when he was put in bed he would be tired!! I give him a sleep after every bottle and he has a long sleep for about 2 hours in the afternoon at 12.30pm (ish) and about an hour after all the other bottles. He also sleeps through the night from about 7.30pm to 6.30am (when I wake him). I think sometimes they don't sleep well at night because they are overtired from not sleeping well in the day and being overtired (just my opinion). My DS1 didn't slepp well in the day at all and didn't sleep through the night either. DS2&3&4 all slept really well during the day and all slept through the night by 12 weeks. Do you pick him up as soon as he cries when he wakes up??

Kate100 I have the same problem as you at the gym, I have to ring at 6.30am to book football for DS1. I must admit though, I feel so much better for the excercise I have been doing. Even going for a walk each day when DS2 is at nursery makes me feel so much better (mentally as much as physically).

Pookey, Beachyhead and Azure are we still on for Friday?? Let me know and we can arrange time/place by e-mail.

hi everyone,
oh ive had a weird couple of days, i wont bore you with it though, they joys of families is all i can say!!
had to go see ds teacher today, went better than i thought, he has still given up we are both banging our heads because he is clever enough to do the work, but he doesnt think he can so wont!
i had my programm worked out at the gym today by an instructor, Dh went 2, god i knew i was unfit but help!!and DD didnt like the creche so much today.
I got email from boss this afternoon, to tell me he was speaking to personnel tomorrow re sorting the job share, but he also mentioned a different department that were advertising for 15 hour a week do you think im too much hassle now and they want rid of me even though, my job share has been agreed?

i tend to leave DD2 for about 10 mins just to make sure she really is awake, and by then she really is calling (not screaming but loud) for me. i'm not sure what has gone wrong and where it went wrong because she did sleep loads during the day when she was tiny.

i was going to try sleep training last night but she has come down with a temperature, runny nose and generally has a cold. its a pain ... i think once she starts getting better, i'm going to have to bite the bullet. unfortunate she isnt one of these babies that cries themselves to sleep. if you leave her, she will cry & moan for 2 hrs ... although she has gotten better. at the 3am wake, if we feed her, she will go to sleep by herself (eyes open), its just a pain having to feed her because i dont think she needs it. she's on 3 meals and takes about 6oz x 5 feeds during the day ..... its all a pain.

but i'm just worried about my baby at the moment .... thank you everyone for your advice - much appreciated and to know i'm not alone ....

DS2 has also got a cold - runny nose and eyes, the works. In the last two days he has not slept for more than an hour at a time. Last night he was in bed with me so I could get him back off to sleep with as little disruption as possible. DH has gone to the States for a week, but fortunately my parents are staying. Blossom2 I sympathise about the daytime naps, although DS2 is generally better. I am trying to structure the feeds to encourage him to have a long midday nap - sometimes he does, sometimes not - but it's always in the pushchair. He has a 20 minute nap in the morning around 9am. Night-times have been bad recently (ignoring the last two dreadful nights due to his cold), but DS2 is normally fed twice during the night, which I agree he doesnt need. The main problem is the length of time it takes to settle him back to sleep again, so each waking can last an hour.

I've sent in my form to work requesting a 4-day week and spoke to my boss about it today, so fingers crossed. He really wants me to get back asap but I just don't feel ready. I must give a return date soon, though.

For the gym I also have to phone first thing to get a creche place. DS2 doesn't seem to mind it, luckily, and it's only an hour at a time (I change clothes at home).

I can't meet-up this Friday as my parents are staying, unfortunately.

I don't know what to suggst about the sleeping as ds2 sleeps so well, but I remember that when ds1 was about 7 months old he went through a phase of night waking and we did just leave him to cry,as he didn't want anything. If we fed he threw it all back up as he didn't want it, it had become habit to wake and eventually, after many tears all round he did stop waking.

I can't believe that ds2 is going to be 6 months old at the end of this week! Where has the time gone, if I remeber correctly it wan;t be long util he starts to crawl and then the fun really begins

I feel better now as Caitlin still wakes once a night to feed most of the times. I have this vision of everyone else's baby sleeping peacefully for 15 hours during the night or something. Feel really bad because a friend came over here with her 7 week old for playgroup yesterday and burst into tears crying because he is up all night and she doesn't get any sleep. I started crying with her because I can sympathize because of Caitlin before we got her allergy all worked out.

We're leaving for a mini-vacation to the beach tomorrow. I'm excited but not sure about it, since we've never gone anywhere with 2 before, and never took Colin on vacation until he was sleeping through the night. Hope all goes well.

took dd to get the first of her photos taken im getting a kind of album thing its three photos one at 4 8 and 12 months,(though she is 5 months in a couple of days) anyway she didnt like it she got sore bored after just a couple of photos and when she was put on her tummy well she screamed, lets hope the next one she will be a bit more co-operative!
we also got a hamster yesterday for DS, he has called it Rooney (bit of a Man U fan) unfortuantely thought they wheel is still a bit squeeky im hearing it start up now at the other end of the house!
DS was telling me that in school yesterday they had to find words with 2 f's and he came up with old trafford(football again) and he had to explain to his teacher what it was, after him not doing much work for the last couple of weeks I think she is still probably in shock (along with me)
Im just back from the gym with DH we had programms made for us the other day, so fingers crossed i can keep it up, i have also lost another couple of pounds yeeeeeeeh

c&cmommy hope you have a love vacation, you will probably find caitlin will sleep all night when she is away, and you will want to go on vacation all the time

I wish i could give sleeping tips, but like Kate100 I have sleepy babies, both of them sleep 11 to 12 hours a night and if get any less are awful, maybe its because, i am usless in the middle of the night and bore them back to sleep

Dazedandconfused mum if you havent made other plans i am on for tomorrow? Sorry all will do a proper post later

hello everyone things have been a bit mad around here the last couple of weeks and I have missed catching up on whats happening with all the august babies.

We havent cracked the sleeping thing yet he has slept through for the past three nights until 5:30am (Im putting down at 6:30pm) but usually he wakes two or three times in that time but I keep reminding myself he wont be like this for ever!

Max now has three teeth and as I type this he is reminding me that the fourth is coming through, I'm sure teething puts his whole sleeping routine out and mine!!

Solids are going very well he was a bit fussy in the begining only wanting baby rice. We have moved on to carrots, potatoes, bananas, apples and pears I must remember not to wear cream or white when feeding him as he thinks its funny to blow rasberries just as the foods gone in his mouth!

Azure - hope the cold has cleared up. Ds2
and dd have had exactly the same which I and half of ds1's class have picked up.

Blossom, my LO was a very light daytime napper until a friend told me I should put her back in her gro-bag for day sleeps. Somehow keeping her that bit warmer helps to stop her waking up. Just in case you hadn't thought of it either.

Hi All

Josey congrats on loosing weight, I only lost a lb but was very pleased with myself!

Azure hope things are getting better.

DS is teething so sleep is a bit hit and miss but he still hasn't slept through the night. Rolling over beginning to look more possible! He has started doing really gummy smiles and crinkling his nose which is cute