October 2011: Gaining teeth but still losing sleep.

[sassy34264]

hope this works! the pressure is on at 3.30am!!!!

He's doing well strawberry It's not disturbing his sleep anymore and we take it off for an hour of cuddles (and bath) in the evening before he goes to bed. I can really see a difference already when I look at his head from above.

Thanks mama think I'll get him a suit then. Good tip about a second towel too

eng that's good, impressive that you can already see a good improvement

Hello all, wrote mammoth post on my phone on Friday night on the way home from work and lost it all . Have now forgotten most things that i wrote and have read.

ipswich can't imagine how you feel but so glad you have some answers.

ed glad you're doing ok

yay for all the 6 month birthdays and milestones, we're still waiting for rolling over here although he sits well.

L had a 7 hr sleep stint on Thursday night but was back to feeding every 3 hrs last night. Think he's trying to make up time on the boob maybe - anyway another week or so and he's going into his own room to see if that's better

I know a couple of others are back at work too but can't remember who - how are you managing? What hours do you do? I do 3 short days but feels like loads, also not sure what to do about BF, want to continue as much as possible but seems unsustainable (apart from I'll do morning and evening for as long as he wants it)...

Sorry for missing stuff, no time and very little brainpower left

strawberry I find it good to take a pram to the pool - helps to put baby in when you're getting changed!

ips am so sorry about Adam - skim read the posts the other day and missed that. How hard.

el I am interested in your work Q as well as am going back in one week! I am still having issues with weaning, he's started sleeping really well at night - not complaining, but it means that my boobs want to explode with the feeds I was dropping in the day as well! I think the formula dream feed is what has made a difference. A slept through last night, for only the 3rd time in almost 7 months!

Pen when do you give the formula dream feed and how much?
I'm trying to stop bf now (painful with E's teeth and I'm back at work) but he's still up twice in the night for a feed.

Think I need to get a routine sorted as I've just been led by him so far and while he has a routine of sorts it isn't working well with work etc.
It's currently something like this:
4/5am bf
7/8am bf
8.30/9.30 Sleep
9/10ish breakfast (weetabix or porridge with fruit)
11.30ish sleep
12.30/1 formula 5oz
1-2ish lunch BLW so a bit of what I'm having
2/2.30 formula 3-4oz
3/4ish sleep
5.30 dinner (purée, bit of our dinner and fruit)
6/6.30 bath
7 bf
7.30 sleep
1am bf
Please feel free to advise anyone on where I'm going wrong! Not sure which bf to drop next or what to do....

el and pen I've been back at work for 2 months now. I found the first month while still ebf and therefore expressing at school quite stressful. The issues with the provision of a quiet space aside, I found that soending all of my "free" periods expressing meant that I couldn't get any planning/marking done during the school day and I was SO exhausted the first few weeks (even though I was only doing 2 days) that when finished teaching I just wanted to run home and see M (and collapse in a heap).

One day I'm at work from 8 til 3 and usually run home as soon as class is finished and the other I normally have meetings so am there til 5. Doesn't sound much, but I'm doing marking and planning at home in the evenings when M is in bed. Found things much easier one I'd stopped having to express at school, but also found that my supply dropped dramatically as soon as I went back to work (prob from nerves and anxiety). make sure you drop feeds gradually.

Next school year I'll be doing 3 days, but am really pleased that I decided to only do 2 for the rest of this school year.

Don't know what was up with M last night. Crying from 3 til 5am. Think maybe he was thirsty, gave him some water and then he was able to get back to sleep. However, DH was awake from 5.30 onwards - he could hear a "DONK!" sound every few minutes. I heard it at 7 and realised starigth away what it was...M had moved around in his cot and was hitting his helmet against the bars when he shook his head from side to side in his sleep!

Needless to say, a very sleep Mr and Mrs Engels here this morning (better leave the 10k run for later!).

Totally un-baby news, but my sister got engaged last nigth and asked me to be one of her bridesmaids! So happy for them (and I also get to be a BM for the first time too!). Their hoping to get married this year during Oct half term, so will be just after M's first birthday

No pearls of wisdom here pebble but maybe he doesn;t need both of the bf during the night and he's just waking out of habit? Could you try settling him back to sleep without a feed? We started doing that with M once he'd slept through a few time. Hmmm......feel free to toally ignore my advice, sure someone else will be along soon with far more wisdom than me

pebble j been waking a couple of times but I notice it less as cosleep and so fairly quick to latch her on and dose off. Sorry not really advice, just how we manage. I feel fairly rested. Tho I don't sleep deeply and haven't really since having dc. The times I do, I feel worse for it iykwim

eng lol at the donk. Does it have to be worn at night too? Loved red stripe on fb

ipswich hello. I didn't really know what to say about your posts and so didn't say anything right away. I cannot imagine how it must feel for you and dh. Sorry that Adam was too poorly and it's good you have Nate to help all of you and to be surrounded by your love. I don't think anyone really gets over events like this, but learn to live with them. . Xx

Pebble, I'm at the same stage as you - trying to decide how to wean from bf onto ff.

I have the additional problem that L won't take a bottle but I'm working on it!

I was chatting to a friend of mine last night about it and she gave her wee girl an oz or two of formula before each bf and gradually increased the ff. Not sure how long she took over it.

I'm aiming to get L to have a bottle at 11pm then to attempt controlled crying to get her to sleep through. My plan is to move her out of our room (sob!) so that DH can go to her through the night at first to settle her.

Goodness knows if it will work ! I'm only going to be happy to try leaving her to go through the night when I've seen that she's having a good feed at 11pm, with bf I'm not confident enough that she's not just hungry and that's why she's waking. (I know that she's probably totally fine and just in a habit of waking for a cuddle and a wee feed but I still need to see it with my own eyes !)

Hope you're all having a good weekend! Great weather here, I got 3 loads of washing hung outside yesterday (very rare in Glasgow!) and went for a lovely stroll round the farmers' market. Today my dad has been through to deliver a fantastic wee hanging rail he made for Lizzie's clothes and we went for a walk round a local loch. DH is away watching the football - unfortunately his team lost so it'll be a grumpy daddy tonight! Ed, how has your DH coped with the old firm and trying to rein in the drinking today? (will it be easier or harder for him with his team winning?)

in case others are thinking work and ebf are impossible I did it starting ft at 4 months, plus DD woke and fed two hourly in the night until she was a year old. Not judging others just saying if people want a pep talk etc. I have some experience

Oh Penguin you're a better woman than I am can't imagine feeding E for another 6 months. I've loved breastfeeding him and will miss it but I want a bit of my life back and he is so fidgety now he just bites and flashes my boobs to the world if we're out!
Engels I think you might be right I don't think he needs the bf in the night (not 2 anyway!) but I'm normally half asleep and it's easier to just pop him on. Think I will try to dreamfeed with formula so I know he's had enough (as you said MrsH I worry otherwise) then will try not to bf in night.
Hope everyone has had good weekend and hasn't been washed away? X

Mama I'm a bit of your cosleeping with two snuggly warm DC's c

That's great penguin . I'm not planning on stopping till J wants to. Ds1 was a year, ds2 almost 4 and no idea on J. It's just so easy too lazy mummy

little xposts J is terrible at feeding when out. Too nosey like me and spins head to see what's going on. If she lets go milk sprays and of she doesn't... Ouch! I often repeat the mantra "it's just a phase"... I so that often grout hour their stages lol.

Ahhhhhhhh just wrote huge message and got 'unable to connect, please try later' and it deleted!!!

Oh I hate that fuzzz!

Gosh Pebble I'm always impressed when people put their routines down as I'm still so led by L and although he has some routine, a lot of it changes from day to day - like was bf all morning and afternoon but was interested as evening came along today . L still feeds min twice in a night (8pm-8am) but sometimes 4/5 times

Penguin Glad to hear someone who managed work and EBF but I think situations are different for all of us - I"m freelance and run drama workshops in the afternoons/evenings in different venues (youth centres, rehearsal halls etc) and travel by train so I just have no may of expressing unless it's in a train toilet either half hour after I leave home or before I get back which is pretty pointless - and soul destroying if it came to that. I express every morning for him (and when I get back home from work if he's in bed) but missing 2 feeds is taking it's toll and my supply has been affected - first day back at work I was leaking loads when I got home, not even feeling over-full now. I just can't keep up. I'm gutted about it as I really want to keep BF until he doesn't need it (especially now he has a milk allergy as the px formula is problematic to say the least and I know BF would increase his chances of growing out of the allergy). I'm hoping my supply will allow me to keep BFing in the mornings and early aft before work as well as the nights for as long as he needs it.

mama wistfully envious of your co-sleeping as we stopped when L was 4 months and now thinking of moving him to his own room as his sleep seems to be disturbed by is - really sad about it in many ways

Sorry typos galore above meant to say he wasn't interested in BFing this evening (until a 40 min feed at bedtime)

And that his sleep is disturbed by me and DP...

pebble I usually make up a 200ml bottle, and how much he drinks depends on him - sometimes the whole lot, sometimes less. It has made a difference though

Well scrap my routine it all went out of the window today I couldn't do a dream feed as he fell asleep after only one boob and just woke up and had the other one... Hopefully he'll sleep for a while now

J only has one boob per feed I don't know of that's because they're ginormous tho

Mama so does A - that's what I was told was best when he was born, so what I've always done. Am sure it's just a matter of opinion though. Makes weaning harder though as I am pretty lopsided most of the time now

pebble good luck with the sleep! One of the hardest things I find about being a mum is the sheer no of things that happen (ie random 1am wakings) when I just don't know why.

Over the weekend I went to check on A during a day nap and he had pulled off his trousers and had them in his mouth. It was pretty funny, but now am worried about the suffocation risk and am putting him in for naps without trousers! (or in a onesey)