August 2012 - sunny (ha!) summer babies

[ImissMiniPop]

they're starting to arrive, so here's our 'Due in August' post natal thread. To talk poo, pee, burping and everything else, too...

Here's link to antd-natal thread for those we'll be waiting for www.mumsnet.com/Talk/antenatal_clubs/1511603-Due-in-August-Thread-Part-6

Have borrowed Needles list, which I'll start here, please feel free to add your details to it. I'm rubbish at list keeping, and hopefully Needles will be along to keep it updated :o

BIRTHS
tigger8 (?) DC? due 27/7/12, GIRL born 11/7/12
missjemima (?) DC2 BOY due 3/8/12, born 10/7/12
PoppySeed34 (34) DC1 BOY due 4/8/12, born 28/5/12

Downton in a min...LO asleep on me... am I brave and risk a move to the basket that might interrupt my TV watching if she wakes or be lazy and stay here ... hmmm...

Ham We've been trying to do the same - ignoring all the grunting and winging etc... and only getting him if it's genuine distress or crying because of reflux, he's managed to put himself asleep a few times (which is a step in the right direction) :) we've been trying to settle him into a 3.5 hour routine, and not feeding him to sleep, which is a hard one to get out of.

Signet - so pleased you got some sleep, it makes such a difference doesn't it? I had to hand MiniPop to DP this morning and go back to bed for an hour and a half, it was SO needed.

MiniPop always wakes up at about 5am, so I bring him into bed with me, but I sit propped up and he sleeps on my chest. Our bed is too small for him to sleep properly in it (and he doesn't like being flat), but it means I get another couple of hours in bed dozing.

About to get controversial here but.....I don't change nappies inthe night at all, even for a poo! And she sleeps SO much better because of it! We put a new one on at about 11 when we go to bed, and plenty of sudocreme, then we grobag her and I feed her to sleep, then inthe night all I have to do is pick her up and feed her back to sleep, little wind then either let her sleep on me until she's in a deep sleep, or just put her in basket.
I've really learnt from mistakes first 2 kids that the more you wake them in the night, the harder it is to settle them again, also I try to pick her up as soon as she whimpers instead of letting her cry so she doesn't have any wind to start with.
Hope this helps some of the bad sleepers, if it's any consolation, out of my 3 this one is my only good sleeper!

tash I too try not to change the nappy. It tends to work well. Jacobs just not been a good sleeper the past couple of nights but was much improved last night after trying to gewt him to have a proper sleep all day yesterday. Thank god it was the weekend and I had other helpers!

Arghhhhh sleepless night last night... think I got about 3 and a half hours broken sleep in...

Can't wait to move Little Man to his own room, thinking of doing this at around 4 months, we moved dd at 5 months and it helped her sleep phenomenally. Like ham said - it makes it easier not to rush in to settle and feed and helps them to self settle a little.

Also don't change nappies at night here unless dirty...

Was going to ask at what point others are moving LOs to own room - the grunting - oh my word!!! Maybe that will lessen as she gets less wind/can digest better. She was pretty settled last night but i was still awake cos of the grunting!! She's too small right now but thinking when.

DP gave her a dummy yesterday and she took it - progress! I know some of u might think it strange if she does't need one but it meant I wasn't a human dummy last night. Will try not to use all the time but i have no issues with dummies if it helps other people settle her and gives me a bit of relief.

Raining here today, boooo, hope everyone has a good day :)

Phew, though it was only me that didn't change at night!!
Now when do they move out of the moses basket to the cot? My other 2 only slept on me for the first 6 weeks then straight into the cot, this perfect child loves her moses basket (6 weeks on Wed) so do I leave her in it until her head is at the top?

Ssshhh, don't tell anyone, but we moved DS into his own room a few weeks ago. He totally outgrew his moses basket, so we tried him in his cotbed in as sleeping bag in the nursery, and he's slept really well in there. It helped us to get a bedtime routine cracked as well - now he goes down at 7.30ish, wimpers for his dummy once or twice and then sleeps! It means we have our evenings to ourselves which is great. He does now wake up twice in the night for feedings, but I don't mind too much.

I'm trying to move to a 3-hourly feeding routine too. He's not desperate for food until then, and I think I might have been over-feeding him a bit - he gets very sicky after most feeds, especially in the morning.

Is anyone else thinking about routines? I'm trying to follow the Baby Whisperer EASY routine, but DS won't sleep for as long as she prescribes!

I'm quite a convert to dummies, but DS only has one to go to sleep. As someone pointed out to me the other day, you can take a dummy away, but you can't take their thumb away if they suck that!

Just fed to sleep for the first time in 2 days... Aka a NON-snack feed!! Gave him his dummy over and again to stall him til he was properly hungry. Hoping this means he will sleep til his grandad comes and I go out for a run!

Yesterday evening was hell. And I know exactly why... Over tiredness. It's so annoying that he misses one sleep and then is all darty eyes and jerky arms for the whole evening. He only slept 3 hours in the day yesterday so it's fairly self explanatory tbh. Now spending today on a sleep mission to get back to good habits as he was great the three days before.

Anyone got any tips on avoiding over tiredness or getting them to sleep when they are? Yesterday he wouldn't even sleep on me/his dad :(

ham I had the same prob yesterday it was a nightmare and now jacob seems to be refusing dummy think he's decided he does not like it!! Good tip on holding back on feeds tho I think this might be my problem snack feeding then cat napping for 10 mins! Thanks for that tip will try to hold back for as long as possible

must've been sth in the water as Little Man was also over tired yesterday so couldn't get him to sleep properly between 7pm - 2am!!

ham think your sleep strategy sounds like a good plan so hang in there if you can! That being said though, personally think it is still a little early to worry about sleep associations and holding baby too much so don't worry if you need to. Just do what you need to do right now!!! Also trying not to pick him up to settle unless crying, but exception at night - it seems that he does only wake up when he is hungry at night (for us that is not too often) so I just get him up when I hear him.

Def up for Edinburgh on 25th! 1pm is not a great time for DS1's nap... realise getting in morning or afternoons would mean peak train travel for those coming in though... Would any other times work??

Tip for avoiding overtiredness would be to put him down before he gets noticeably tired then he should (in theory) settle better on his own. This worked for us for DS1. According to theory, babies of 6-12 weeks should only be awake for up to 90 mins at a time before stress levels are reached. Although that seems to go to pot in the evenings for us!! He just seems to be awake all evening cluster feeding and napping, but apparently your milk supply tends to go down in the evenings as well due to being tired so I think that is all normal.

tash we do exactly the same as you at night:)

Interesting that our projectile vomit issue seems to have improved since we started using the dummy. Think he is comfort sucking on that more in the evenings now rather than overfeeding so that is great.

Good to know about moving to own room tash and gnomi, couple of my NCT friends have already moved their LOs as well (in fact one started in their own room!) so as with all things, seems whatever works best for you rather than following all the guidelines. She's not outgrown the basket yet and I don't have a monitor so need to sort that first.

I don't have the book but am aware of EASY. If she is awake/alert after a feed I try and do some activity if possible - bouncer or play mat. I don't time it and it doesn't always work out as don't want her overstimulated for napping, especially later in the day but its a good idea in principle. How's it working for you?

Seems like dummies are a saviour for a lot of us!

Off to 6wk check...

re getting them to sleep - i feed to sleep, or rock the pram back and for, but we have just bought a similar one to this one to rock her to sleep.

To other co sleepers - i have been feeding lying down but think she's 'sleepy feeding' so doesn't drink much, last night i properly woke her to feed, lights on , nappy change, talking etc and she slept longer.

lois I can't get the 'activity part of EASY to turn into sleep though, thats my problem, any ideas anyone?

Me too, Welsh! Sometimes he'll be clearly tired, but will really resist sleep. I find it helps me more than him though - if he's crying and I know he's not hungry, windy or needing to be changed, I'll put him to bed. More often than not, he'll settle, even if he doesn't go to sleep.

DH has just left for a two day conference, he'll be back in just over 48hrs. As he was leaving I burst into tears and sobbed that I can't do it I know it's silly but I'm really scared!! Theo is three and a half weeks but the way it's all worked out he and I have only been on our own for a total of 3 days (9 to 5) and DH has come home at lunchtime each day - 48 hrs seems like forever!!

I guess when we discussed it previously (been booked for a while) we thought babe would be a month old, and that I could just go visit my parents for a few days if I felt the need. I still could do this but the plan was to BF so that would only require me, travelling with bottles, formula and steriliser ( and remembering everything) is daunting.

I know, I should just deal with it. And he's gone now and were on our own so I'll just have to get on with it. Just having a wobble...

Nightfall You will be absolutely fine, just don't put to much pressure on yourself to do a million things - just get you and bubs through the day successfully. :) Good luck!

We've put Minipop into his cot as he outgrew his basinette, but he's still in our room although he is SO noisy that we are going to move him to the nursery as soon as we've sorted it out (as it's still all in boxes with just the essentials out on the floor )

I also don't change nappy during the night unless pooey, last feed is generally around 10pm to midnight and the wake up feed is around 7 or 8am, so not too bad - and the nappies we use are pretty good at keeping it all in.

We're following the babywise routine (it's a really old book), but I think this is the same as the EASY routine. It's really hard getting feeding and then awake time as we usually feed to sleep, and then sleep after activity is tricky, but I'd say we're following it 'loosely' :)

Bedtime routine is kind of working ok, which means we're getting a few hours to ourselves in the evening, which is nice.

Opps, huge post - sorry! x

We'll keep you company nightfall :).

Either go for a couple of pyjama days and just catch up on loads of rubbish TV/DVDs or if you're up to it, a nice walk (past the shop to get loads of nice snacks and resume activity # 1). :)

good luck nightfall... dh is off for a week in 2 weeks and dreading managing the two alone. may just go to my parents (!)

re the activity to sleep tis tricky but amazing when you get it right... look out for the yawns, rubbing eyes and staring into space and then put them in bed.

Well productive day today. Took lo to get weighed she is 7lb 15 now, was 6 pounds born three weeks ago so I think that means my milk is doing ok!

Had two good nights with waking every three-three and a half hours do I feel like a new woman.

Noticed a few random spots on chest and tummy today. Don't seem to be bothering her but have done the glass test anyway

Never heard of EASY before. Sounds like a good thing to try out.

I am also going to look into baby signing. Sounds great if it works.

Nightfall I totally understand. Dh went back to work yesterday ! Cue meltdown from me. My lo was a handful and i couldn't moan here as phone was acting up but just take it easy. It seems to always turn out OK in the end.

Mini geek has just thrown me a curve ball.. she refuses to sleep on her back. This has always been the case. She want through a week of sleeping on her side and then discovered she could roll onto her back. No sleep for anyone.
She started sleeping on her tum. Cue 2 peaceful weeks of sleep.
Last night, presto, nothing works as a bed! Not even my chest or tummy!
She is asleep on my tummy. Apparently the least uncomfortable spot but she let us know by screaming herself to sleep. She also no longer finds slings soothing.

Have I run out of options? I thought I was imaginative but I can't think of any other ways she can sleep.

night its perfectly natural and understandable to be freaking out I would be and talking of remebering I went to toddler group yesterday and totally forgot to replenish the spare outfit I had used the day before for jacob so he leaked through his nappy of course!! Ended up putting him in ds1's spare t-shirt! Luckily he had booties, socks and a coat I used the cosy toe in the pram to cover his legs! Felt so stupid I could of cried! But I didn't and we were fine and he was toastie warm when we got home. Also forgot the muslins so ended up getting wet jeans when he did his usual milk spitting out!
Don't worry you can always find alternatives in case you forget or you could put spare bottles round your parents and don't forget sterilising is a simple as using boiling water on the bottles so you can just boil everything in a pan for 5mins if necessary! Or put on a really hot diswasher on there own would also do the job.
Get your parents to buy formula for when you get there as well. So really all you have to remember is bottles.

You will be fine!

Much better sleep last night slept for 4 hours then 2 then went into a delcline but think that's cos I forgot to take infacol in the bedroom so had a sore tummy. Took ages to get him to sleep again. Sleeping in the afternoon/evening seems to be the problem he just wants to be awake all the time! Had to put him in the baby carrier to get him to have an afternoon nap!

Hope everyone is doing ok.

We're getting much better afternoon sleep as well! Although still awake much of the evening. Just had 6-8 week check and LO is still on 75th centile for weight, and 98th for length and head size so a big little guy then! The hv commented that his head was looking quite flat on the one size which through a curve ball at me since DS1 didn't get that, hmph:( Now to try and get him to sleep with his head slightly tilted the other way... how?? Anyone else?

poppy minipop's sleep sounds amazing! And brings us hope.

How's everyone getting on with expressing? LO is just over 3 weeks and I'm starting to think about investing in a pump. Any recommendations? Also, when did everyone start expressing? Midwife said should try not to express until 6 weeks but that sounds a bit extreme to me? Have others started earlier and if so, did it interfere with milk supply at all?

Sorry for all the questions. I am a little clueless!