March 2012 - Brewed to Perfection!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Hello all, come and add your babies to the list and let's see what adventures they bring!

Hi broody no rare short naps here too! Not helped much by my 2 year old being her lovely but very noisy self! I would have thought it was sleep regression but tbh she's always been like this! Tonight (touchs wood) she's so far been great I'm only up for the second time and she's gone down quickly each time! Unfortunately DD1 has been up 3 times! DH has slept through though!

Just wanted to add that you are very right about mummy hood coming with a bucket load of guilt! I'm constantly worrying about my two and feel especially guilty that I don't have the opportunity to do everything the way I would like for my psb as I did for my pfb and that pfb has to share my time now as well!

Hey Broody & Law. I don't know if I can offer any helpful advice, but completely emphathise re: lack of sleep. It's almost impossible to do anything when you're exhausted, especially over long periods. My DP does the bottle feeds at night/ early morning which I think has made an enormous difference to me- it means I start the day not feeling absolutely whacked. It works for us at the moment because DP is working 'til late so barely sees Ivy during the daytime & appreciates that bit of time with her. When I was BFing at night though, I did just keep her in with me & often fell asleep with her on the boob & popped her straight back on if she woke up. Probably not what they advise, but I always felt she was safe.

I feel Ivy's pretty settled at the moment, which I'm amazingly grateful for, but my big worries are getting work set up for later in the year- I just don't know if I can realistically get it all together & be working from home enough to pay the bills which worries me a lot. Also DP's son is set to move hundreds of miles away (13 hours journey) with his mum in the autumn, so DP is going to be spending a lot more time away- maybe 2 weeks a month, which is obviously going to be difficult in many ways (sleep levels included!) It ties in almost exactly with the time Ivy's brace comes off, so I'm half counting down 'til September and the rest of me is dreading it.

Anyway, just wanted to respond really. I think things will probably get easier soon, it can just feel impossible and never-ending when you're caught in the middle of it. xx

kiki I agree - and hope - that it will get better soon, probably when we start to introduce solids. It's all about the exhaustion with me. I'm so conscious that I don't put on DH but if he doesn't get up with DD in the middle of the night (when she doesn't need feeding obviously), I am just a wreck the next day.
What is it you do kiki? (I think I remember you're freelance but in what?) I'm setting up on my own (marketing and PR) from January and I'm starting now to look at where I can get my work from. Its a bit daunting but exciting! I'm staying on in my permanent role for two days a week so I do have definite money coming in but I'm hoping to finish that by next Christmas if all goes well with my own biz.

Broody, I'm an artist- spend part of my time making work to sell/ commissions etc, and the rest organising arts events and running workshops. The events things will be harder with a baby, because I have to be out and about a lot more- plus lots of meetings including formal board meetings etc and workshops are usually a day long, so would need childcare to cover those days.

Evening all!
We had a little trip to the docs this afternoon after dd reacted very strangely to noise at our baby sensory class - she screamed high pitch but for a second at a time for a few minutes. The teacher was a bit worried, bless her, and so with her appalling sleep issues over the last few nights - 20/30 mins at a time, then waking - I decided to just get her checked out as i thought maybe she had an ear infection. Shes also had glands on the back of her head/nape of neck come up quite a bit and they hadn't gone down so wanted to get them seen.

Doc was fantastic and checked her all out (ears, mouth, chest, heart, temp, body for rashes etc) and shes absolutely fine He thinks she may come down with a little cold in the next few days and she's just showing the first signs in rather a dramatic fashion [proud look!] He said she has only been on the planet for 19 weeks so she doesn't know all sounds and so there will be some she won't like just yet (major one she objects to is ripping tin foil or anything too rustle-y) and the scream is the only way she can tell us she's not happy.

I asked whether the sleeping thing could be attributed to teething. Interestingly, he said that teething really doesn't affect babies half as much as its bad publicity says and that more often than not, it's just babies getting used to life outside the womb.

Kinda all obvious when I think about it but ya know ... ;)

Hi everyone. I was on a march 2012 pregnancy thread - not sure if they are connected
My baby Vinnie was born 31/3/12, second DC, absolute little angel. Just wanted to introduce myself. Will be watching and nodding sympathetically along.

For all you first times mums... It will all pass so quickly. The good and bad bits, so try to enjoy them (as hard as no sleep is - i havent had a full nights sleep in 2.5 years !)

Welcome milky and law!

Glad to hear Poppy is doing well, broody. I'd meant to ask you how you were getting on with sleeping, but it is looking no different there, I see. Tessa has somehow forgotten how to fall asleep. She used to just nod off when she was tired, but now she screams and cries and just won't sleep, even though it is obvious she wants to :( She only sleeps if I nurse her down now. She has just started sleeping better at night 7.5 hours on Thu night!!! although only 4 last night so I am hoping this is a phase connected to the whole growth spurt/reverse cycling thing. It looks to me like she doesn't want the sooooooo interesting world to go away...

I made it through my alone weekend. Tessa was an absolute doll, and I think she really liked having my total attention. But when DH came home in the middle of the night, the next morning she gave him a big look of wonder and a grin when she woke up and found him there :)

And I've been scrambling through my second week of work. I have to admit, the Olympics have been more of a distraction than DD! So hopefully I'll be so much better next week. I took her to a seminar on Friday, and she blew some bubbles about halfway through then fell asleep after only a little grunty noise. People complemented me on how quiet she was, although I was all tense at those little noises she did make. My friend told me he had forgotten she was there until he heard a strange sound he couldn't quite place. Then we went to a meeting, too! A project I'd started was having its final meeting, so I asked if I could come along warning that the baby would be with me and she basically repeated her seminar performance of bubbles, grunts, then sleep.

Hello milky here's a cheers to no sleep for 2.5 years! Think we must have a similar age gap my DD's are 2 weeks short of 2 years apart! How are you finding the gap? We're muddling along nicely though a few hours extra kip would be heaven! DD's are interacting lots which just melts my heart eldest gets the most smiles and laughs from baby!

Hi Law :) there are exactly 23 months between my boys. My eldest is amazing with the new recruit to which i am grateful for everyday. I have tried to do some things with him alone so he does not resent baby (eg take him swimming) but, he started crying on the bus home as 'baby no come swimming too' lol
So my plan backfired.

Iam surprisingly finding it very easy. Iam quite a laid back type (unless its DS1 colouring my carpet ) so DS2 has sort of slotted in to our live nicely.
Vinnie (DS2) is VERY laid back so that helps, my biggest struggle is reminding my eldest to have patience.

I must have had sooo much time on my hands with just the one boy. I very rarely sit down now, but i am enjoying it and i just feel to cry knowing the newborn stage is over and he'll soon have teeth/be crawling/talking!

How are you finding it?

It's really interesting hearing from you mommas with two babes. We were talking about it the other day and wondering how on earth I'd cope with two, especially if the next one was also a non daytime sleeper. My DH must think I'm superwoman cos he has every faith I would cope! Apparently "it's in the contract we have two children" and I've always wanted two so they have a playmate anyway .... but it's the thought that in just six months, we would start all that trying again and in theory, by next Christmas we'd be a family of four!! What is everyone else thinking about more babies and timings? Xxx

I am very happy with the age gap between mine. They are close enough to interact on a 'babyish' level together but, my eldest is independent enough to feed himself/ be left for a few minutes doing a puzzle etc whilst iam changing/ sterilising/ dressing baby.

I think you most definitely would cope. I am honestly genuinely 'coping'! Iam really enjoying it moreso 2nd time round as i am not caught up on the little things like you do with the 1st and its absolutely amaxing to see the two of them 'chatting' and giggling together.

Saying that if all babies were like Vinnie then the world would be over populated. Hes an absolute treasure. I suffer from psb

Oh milky I love this age gap too :) I was very worried about DD1 being jealous as we are so close but she's not been resentful once! She is a lovely little girl though very loving! She has become a bit of daddy's girl now which makes me kinda :( but DH is loving it! DD2 is a yummy baby all blue eyes and big smiles she's not much of a sleeper but you cope surprisingly well on no sleep don't you think? I've not managed any one to one outings with DD1 as I'm bf and DD2 won't take a bottle but still get plenty of mummy DD1 time when DH is home or DD2 is sleeping we paint bake etc she's also always asking for her "baby sissy" and tries to share her toys with her!

I also have no idea why I never seemed to have spare time with just one child I literally do not get a minute now! I would recommend this gap as already my two are interacting and especially as they are both DDs they will be into similar things also there has been no jealousy I don't think DD1 can remember her sister not being here.

I wouldnt describe my latest bundle as laid back as she very much demands being held by me and only me! But as long as she's with me she's a little ray of sun so I've just adapted playtime so it's all three of us doing jig saws, reading etc

Also broody I think your first is such a massive life change going from being independent to having someone totally depend on you 24 7 that other DCs just slot in! We are already talking about having DC3 I'm not totally mad though that will be a few years off!

Wow, broody, that is amazing to think on, isn't it?

For us, DH was not keen on children, but I negotiated "just one", figuring once one was in place, we could revisit the discussion. But curiously, DH has done a complete turn-around and is a devoted Dad, and might be more receptive than I had originally imagined. But now I'm not so keen I'm just not sure I could handle another pregnancy. People say the hormones make you forget the pain of childbirth, but it's going to take an awful lot of hormones to forget 6 months of SPD agony, and it's still not entirely gone. I hear that it starts earlier in subsequent pregnancies. So I think I need some more time at least before I can really think about facing it again. At the very least we'll need two incomes so that I can take more time off working so close to the end when I could barely even sit upright was mad, and I really can't do that again! I'm trying to enjoy every little bit of my daughter's babyhood, not sure if I'll have another one or not.

I know what you mean mad, I am planning a 3-3.5 year age gap as will need Fyfe to be fairly independent (and those 15 hours at nursery) in order to cope with pregnancy, no way I could look after a baby whilst pregnant! I feel happy with that though as feel I can devote myself to Fyfe now and give a new baby (eventually) lots of attention too. Also, there is a 3.5 year age gap between my sister and I and we are some of the closest siblings I know! I don't think the age gap dictates the relationship, in fact I know siblings with a one year gap that can't stand each other! Currently staying with a friend with a 3 week old and a 22 month old and she's doing great, it seems very doable. She had a very hard time in pregnancy though as got SPD (didn't have it first time) and foun it very hard to cope. Tricky decision!

I agree that the age gap doesn't dictate the relationship there's 2.9 yr between me and my elder sisters ( twins ) and 7 year with my little sister and we are all equally close I think a lot is down to how the relationship is nurtured! I found being pregnant with a toddler fine as I'm very lucky to have had two healthy problem free pregnancies! Ultimately I want 3 DC so wanted to get on with it! I don't think there is ever a perfect time as there are pros and cons of every gap!

Seeing as we discussed them recently thought I'd say Fyfe is currently in the door bouncer at a friend's and loves it! He is having a fabulous time and is not on tiptoes so no worries there.
Also, as from yesterday he is now properly sitting without support. He is very pleased with himself!

Aaaah bless him trouble so cute!

We've had a few days in Devon fr a little break. Dd was well behaved in the main, although sleeping at night still seems to be a major issue. We came home yday, did the whole 615 bath, 640 feed, 730 bed routine as normal and she slept beautifully til 1030 when she woke as normal. It then took six hours to get her to settle again she'd be rocked to sleep fine, put her down, five mins later she's awake again. On and on and on it went, til DH took her downstairs and let her sleep on him. She still woke after 90 mins but went back down a bit quicker. I just need this phase to end soon as I'm totally knackered!!!

Hi all! Hope you had a good week. Sorry to hear about sleeping, broody. It really is mad when they just won't do it! I think we've finally come out the other end of the sleep regression, after a good 6 weeks or so. She's still terribly distractible when eating, though. I need to feed her somewhere nice and quiet, and not talk and refrain from doing noisy things like eating an apple :) We're definitely not up for any public breastfeeding in this type of mood.

And thank you all for telling me about swimming! We went to water babies this week, and Tessa loved it. She was completely knackered afterwards and slept a good 3 hours in the afternoon.

I've taken her into the office a couple times this week arriving around 4pm and staying to 7-8pm, so if she's noisy she won't bother people. She did a bit of screeching before 5pm yesterday and I took her for a walk to see if anyone was bothered no one had heard, but the two grandpas who have offices in the next corridor also said they won't mind if they had. So that was nice. I'm still worried about the office below mine, but the fellow who has that hasn't been in yet. Next week will be a bunch of meetings that DH will take her during, but it was nice to know the two of us can manage in the office together, too. Although the plan is still mostly to work from home.

mad we are five weeks into our regression - pls god I hope it is just a phase! - so fingers crossed we'll be back into normality soon...
Fantastic you liked water babies. Its undoubtedly my highlight of the week and I'd love to think its dd's too. The teaching really does work - we went to our first public swimming session last week and practiced a few of the moves and she was smiling and chatting as normal. We even did a tiny underwater swim! My friend who has been going for a few months longer than us thinks the same too - her dd swims independently for a few seconds and understands it when her mum says "hold on hold on hold on" (about week 4 lesson I think). Fab stuff!! Xx

It is amazing what a difference it makes Fyfe being able to sit up! He is more able to play with toys and we have been going on the swings at a friend's house and in the park. He was on them for 15 mins just now and I only brought him in as thought it was getting a bit too sunny for him to be our without a hat. He never normally likes anything for that long! I absolutely love this stage, he is doing something new each day and is just such a wonderful little boy!

Hello all,

Sorry haven't popped in for a while- but some good news! Ivy came out of her hip brace last week- three weeks earlier than we were expecting! Can't tell you how pleased/ relieved I am, it's been so nice just to hold her properly again and have a bath, see her legs fully extended etc and she started rolling almost as soon as it came off, so she's loving the sense of being a bit more mobile. We're taking for an X-ray in 3 weeks, to check everything's still OK, then hopefully that will be it. I'm taking her to be weighed/ measured tomorrow, because we haven't had an accurate measurement since she was a week old.

It's also been one of those crazy weeks where her hair's suddenly started growing visibly day by day, she's talking a lot more (she used to jabber on a while back, but then got to a stage where she just grunted and made baby noises for ages)- she said mumumum this morning, which had me in tears. So lovely. A few things have changed- she was sitting up very confidently with the brace, but is a bit floppier again now, I think she must have used slightly different muscles, so is having to re-learn that a bit. I'd say we're still in sleep regression though! She wakes up in the wee hours and is really jolly and chatty, but won't go back to sleep. She's beginning to have slightly longer daytime naps, though.

Have been meaning to ask- when it comes to weaning etc are you going to take 6 months as calendar months, or use the number of weeks since birth? (I think there's a discrepancy of a couple of weeks, or two). I gave her a bit of de-seeded tomato to suck on yesterday (she just sucked the juice out of it, and had a bit of a chew, but really enjoyed it). Made a terrific mess, though!

Hooray kiki! that is fantastic news! Sitting up will be really different without the brace but I'm sure she'll get it soon! Any sign of those teeth yet?

I don't know what's happening with the teething... She still has one right at the back that is poking through a bit, but it hasn't changed in a month. Some days she's absurdly dribbly & it's obviously bothering her, other days it doesn't. There are a couple of little white dots beginning to show- one at the top front, which I think's more likely to show itself fully first, and the gums feel noticably hardly.

How are Fyfe's teeth coming on? Really can't wait to get her in the door bouncer, but she's not used to bearing weight on her legs at all, and I don't want to put any pressure on her hips really- not until she's had her X-ray in 3 weeks- once we're sure everything has stayed fine without the brace on, then we'll encourage her more with that kind of thing.

Had her weighed yesterday- she's just under a stone, so just dipped under the 25th centile (which is exactly what they predicted once the weight of the brace/ nappy etc wasn't taken into account). She looked quite small against some of the other babies, but nothing to worry about, I don't think.

Good to hear work things are going ok so far, Mad. Broody- you must be due some sleep soon! Must sign up for the swimming class now we're able to. X

you must all be so happy kiki! That's brilliant that she's the weight they predicted! Some babies are bigger and some smaller, they just need to be the right weight for them.
Just thought, there is a baby gym thing on on Tuesday mornings 9.30-10.30 (very early I know!) where a gym instructor shows you how to help your baby with whatever moves they are working on, may be of interest to you for building up Ivy's muscles. The swimming is brilliant! We really enjoyed baby massage too. I'm going to ring up about signing this week too as Fyfe is 6 months next week!
His teeth are fine, the bottom ones are now so noticeable when he smiles and laughs..very cute!