December 2012: 8 hour sleeps and chubby chops all round

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

New thread for us ladies

[ISpyPlumPie]

Not a great night here either - v snuffly boy and blocked nose was stopping him feeding in the night. Managed to sort it eventually with the cleaner, but he was so upset and frustrated that he kept moving around making it harder. Just hope it clears soon as it's really not nice for him, and I don't fancy another night like that.

[itsMYNutella]

Thanks for the new thread Willyou.

Thanks for the nappy tips pidj and stacks I have contacted the nappy lady and need to spend some time going over her recommendations.... I want ones that don't involve too much faffing because DP isn't keen and needs a bit of convincing. Also I like the idea of flushable liners so there isn't too much poo smell lingering in the flat :)

[SpottyTeacakes]

Hmm ds is refusing a nap this morning.... I need him to sleep so I can bake

[Barbeasty]

Honey no problems really. It took 6 months, vs 1 with DD, but that could have been for so many reasons. Again though, DD was about 16 months when we started TTC so was not having as much milk.

[Stacks]

Better night here last night, unsettled between 8 and 10 - sleeping but only with me there, very still, and nipple reinserted often. Then woke at 12:15, 3:15, 5:40 and 6:30 got him up at 7, and had a shower etc before DH left for work.
I've cracked daytime naps I think terrified of jinxing it. 5 minutes of pushing in the pram in front of the Juno soundtrack. It's been working every time since I started that method on Sunday. However naps are only about 30m each time, and he's tired and grumpy again within about an hour of waking up. If I take him to bed with me instead we get 3 hour nap on the nipple.
I've started a spreadsheet of naps, food and nappies. Trying to see if he has a natural pattern of sleeping and eating. I have to keep track of his nappies too, as he doesn't care if he's wet, and I can forget to change him and go over 5 hours the recommended 3 hours between changing.

Sorry to hear about sleep regressions. I was reminiscing last night about DS and his sleep at 8 weeks 4+4 hours, then maybe another 2 in the morning. Easy to put in his crib and slept fine in it. Oh to be there again!

Seymour hope LO is better today?

[SpottyTeacakes]

Glad you had a better night stacks.

I can't make cake because I'm out of sugar so annoying. Ds has finally gone to sleep 20 minutes so far...

[FriendofDorothy]

I do have a brace for my wrist but it isn't helping too much :(

We have one of these cot bumpers. It's lovely.

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

You poor thing FoD hope the injections helps

Sorry to all the non sleepers but after a 6:30-7:30 wake up we went back to sleep til 9 .

I couldn't sleep last night for worrying about work and I don't even go back til jan. I just have such a long commute that I'm never going to see him. DP will never earn enough for me to give up and he's looking at a pay cut if he moves jobs soon. Come on lottery win!

[SpottyTeacakes]

WillYou can you go part time? I'm not going back but I'm panicking about having enough money. Ideally I will need another job but not sure what I'm going to do...

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

I am going to ask for 4 days I think. I am the main bread winner by a long way and I dropped to 4 days while pregnant (work was struggling) and we managed but we now have the added expense of a baby. I think I need to do a proper budget and work out what we need each month

[SpottyTeacakes]

You'll be amazed what you can live on. We used to struggle on two full time wages pre dd but since we've had her and I'm only part time we have more money left over. It's definitely down to budgeting

[itsMYNutella]

Willyou like spotty says you'll be amazed where and how you can make savings. Since I moved here I haven't been able to earn as much as I would like and so DP's wage has stretched to pay for us, now a baby and a slightly bigger flat. I'm one of our kids and things were tight when we were kids but although I remember being told lots of things were too expensive I do remember having a great time :) until all the adultery and messy divorce anyway

stacks there is a recommended 3 hours? I have looked for a recommendation but didn't find one anywhere (I also asked the midwife and she didn't seem bothered about it). DS has been very lucky and not had nappy rash but I tend to change him when he feeds /every 4-5 hours. Except overnight, then he stays in his nappy unless there is a definite smell or he seems genuinely bothered by it.

Not sure what is happening on the sleep front DS is still napping in the day, although perhaps not as much as he should... But has brought his bedtime forward by almost an hour (was 9pm now 8pm ish) but then wakes about 01:30 and feeds briefly before we both fall back to sleep and then he feeds properly at about 03:30 and again at about 06:30.
We put him into his own cot at the end of our bed when he first goes to sleep and then after that I have him in with me because I'm too lazy to get up
But it's annoying because he is conducting orchestras in his sleep waves his arms around and sometimes rolls his head from side to side and wakes me up even though he isn't hungry.
He used to sleep 10pm ish (when he finally went to sleep after feeding) until almost 4am and it was great! It was generally about 5hours solid sleep... Where has it gone and why?

[SpottyTeacakes]

Nurses in SCBU said nappies can goes six hours these days. I change ds when I remember every 2-5 hours depending on what we're doing and if he poos etc and he has same nappy for 13 hours overnight...

Nutella 8pm until 1:30 is 5.5 hours sleep you just need to go to bed at eight too

[itsMYNutella]

spotty im not a slatternly mother! hurrah thank you.
I take him to bed and feed him then he goes to sleep at about 9 and I usually then get myself ready for bed and go to bed about 10.

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

I change the amazing weey baby every 3 or he leaks in the day but at night he does 12-13h in a size 3 pampers and is fine.

11oz in one week! Yay! Force feeding obviously worked well. Now he'll be okay until his last injections 2 weeks today and he'll be I'll again

Budget it is then, we do waste so much money on food especially at the minute.

[Stacks]

Nutella the recommendation is every 2-4 hours I think for cloth nappies. It's mostly just from the manufacturers, but also baby tends to be wetter when they do wet, as there's no chemicals to 'lock away moisture' like the pampers adverts say. He's fine going as long as he does, doesn't have a rash or anything.
T is also conducting an orchestra in his sleep recently. Usually right in the middle of the night. He's asleep as far as I can tell when doing it, but it wakes me up every time so I push him to the edge of the bed. I'm hoping he'll grow out of it. Maybe it's a new kind of rem sleep?

We're also looking to budget just now. Not because we're poor, but we want to know where our money goes and how much we waste. It's scary to think DH and I have genuinely no idea what we spend each month!

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

That's how we've always been Stacks, if we wanted it we bought it! Excel spreadsheet and bank statements at the ready!

[MaMaPo]

Ditto - no budget here.

I started a new thread - any suggestions, pls comment! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/sleep/a1717546-Safe-swaddling#38071192

[FriendofDorothy]

We are on a cash budget for food too. It's amazing how much you can spend without thinking about it!

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

Okay I did the http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning MSE budget planner and it told me to unclench! I always knew I was tight but I didn't realise I was that bad. I put in really generous allowances for everything too (as in 125 a week for food/nappies). I think it's because we don't go out ever much any more and have been saving for a house so long that cutting back on other stuff has become second nature. Even if I drop a day and we end up paying for full childcare (my mum has offered to cover some days) we'll still be okay. Gonna have to cut back on food while on maternity leave though I think as the pay will soon start to drop.

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

Pah, link fail. MSE budget planner

[WLmum]

Ha yep obviously meant stroking down her nose - I do not advocate striking babies noses no matter how sleep deprived!

willyou I totally understand, I used to earn a fair bit more than DH before dd1, then I was made redundant but went back to the same co on a contract and earned lots more than him. Unfortunately the contract position involved lots of travel and stress and so I gave it up and lived on my redundancy pay for a bit. Then I got my current job which is low stress but low pay - we can manage for now but it's tight and not really sustainable. I quite often get in a flap about finding another job - there's so few p/t (hence I took current role) and they're mostly crap pay. I really don't want to work full time so often worry about the options and outcomes. Sleepless nights also make the problems 10x bigger.
Do you have any options for working from home or condensed hours? Maybe you could negotiate a phased return where you do less hours for a period then build up or renegotiate if you find you can afford it?

[ISpyPlumPie]

Thanks for the link Willyou. Think we need a budget plan too - we're not exactly extravagant but do spend quite a bit on food and other small stuff without really thinking and it all starts to add up. I'd love to take a full 12 months maternity leave again, but it got very tight towards the end last time so was thinking nine months might be more realistic. I'm going to really look at our spending first though and look whether we can make any savings - 3 more months at home is a pretty good incentive!

Also great news about the weight gain.

[SpottyTeacakes]

I don't earn much anyway so I'm not that bothered I do quite a bit of book keeping at work but not formally so I'm going to do an evening course so I've actually got it on paper. Otherwise my only expertise is antique silver and I don't think there's much demand for that

Great news on the weight gain WillYou did you start a dream feed or not?

[WillYouDoTheBunnyHop]

Mine involves lots of stress and travel WL and you really have to earn the high salary. They were willing to let me wfh during pregnancy and when I went off work they were understaffed so desperate for me to go back so would've agreed to anything. I suppose it depends on the situation when I go back. There's freelancing which pulls in ££££ but we're not really in a position to live with the uncertainty of that income .