March 2013: Smiles, sleep & excellent feeding.....the thread of wishful thinking!

[SoYo]

Well we may as well start the thread on a positive note before the grumbling about the little darlings begins!!!

Evening ladies, hope you've all had a successful, meltdown free bedtime? Taken me ages to catch up, and haven't got the time or energy to name check. Those of you dealing with "Velcro babies" (love that!)- I am in awe of you- I'm so lucky that dd is most of the time 3 hrs like clockwork? I know how much I struggle on growth spurt days when it's more like 2 hourly. Just remember, every feed is weight gain, and weight gain should mean more sleep eventually!

Whoever it was who was talking about the 3am feed, I'm with you there. Irritatingly, we know for a fact dd can sleep without a feed for 8 hrs. On the occasions we have missed the 10pm feed she has gone 7.30-3.30. However, with the 10pm feed will she go to 6am? Will she heck. Still wakes up at 3. For a while we just stopped waking her at 10, but then realised that as she's still far too small to go 12 hrs (still under 10lb at 10 weeks), that way we were guaranteeing a 3am feed. At least with a dream feed we go to sleep every night with the hope that this could be the one!

I've just had a revelation re: expressing. In the past I'd been pumping quickly thinking it would get done quicker. Am
I the only one that didn't realise pumping slowly means longer flows of milk therefore you express more quickly? Feel a bit stupid now.

Our new neighbours are having a housewarming party. We don't like them, they don't understand the neighbourhood- our street is 1950s like in its community, everyone knows each other (some people's idea of a nightmare I know) but they won't even say hello in the street. Also, is it just me, or is it courtesy if you live in a terraces house to warn neighbours of parties, and sometimes to invite them (knowing full well they'll decline?). They're being really loud which isn't helping my mood.

Horrid week here- my cousin's DS has bacterial meningitis. They think they've caught it early so shouldn't be too much damage but a scary time for all of us.

Anyway, here's hoping for good feeds, successful transfers, and sleepy babies for us all tonight!

wingd things much better here at week 10. At week 6 I was wondering if I had done it all wrong and forgotten everything I must have learnt with ds! But I think you are right, we delete the bad bits from our memory. First night here we have had both kids in bed by 7.15 and had dinner and watch a DVD together. Only taken 10 weeks! Dh doing dream feed now and I should be sleeping! Hope you all gave good nights!

Yes vj I have that dream about him sleeping through and not waking at 3am too.... no luck so far. Was considering trying tonights 10 o'clock one as a dream feed as his reflux is much better at night now but couldn't figure out how to get it in his mouth without spilling it all over him. No amount of cheek stroking would make him turn his head so just ended up lifting him out. Nevermind.

Bet the neighbours are secretly having a eurovision party.

Right going to try sleep and hope tonight's the night he sleeps through... I can dream. Milky hot choc for all those suffering with velcro babies. [Grin]

All timings got a bit off somewhere today some didn't start getting Bubs to bed until 8 then a couple of meltdowns later & it was 22.30 before she was asleep (although I can still hear a little bit of rustling). I'm under no illusion that she'll still wake at 12.15 if not much sooner like she does with an 8pm bedtime! These babies are sent to try us sometimes! I keep telling her she's lucky she's cute or we'd be leaving her for the dog to look after!

She's in the nursery again and does seem to go down a bit easier & stay asleep longer there, she was starting to bash against the sides of the Moses basket & wake herself up. I'm a bit worried about moving her into there so early (she's nearly 12 weeks) but we couldn't fit her cot in here & if we all sleep better it makes sense, it's just the fear because of the SIDS advice. Just another thing to worry & feel guilty about I suppose!

Ooh lots to catch up on! Will have to wait until tomorrow evening to catch up as we've had a ridiculously busy weekend here, and off to Birmingham to see old university mates for lunch tomorrow. It'll be the furthest we've ventured as a family. Though I do appear to have started my period so I'm delighted and never did work up the courage to POAS

Hope everyone has good nights :)

I'm not looking forward to my period returning Plonko! Hope you still have a lovely lunch.

You're right about The Guilt SoYo! Hope you're getting some sleep.

Thanks for the encouragement Eig!

Vj has the party stopped? Grr.

Eco I watched it until the voting. Hilariously terrible as usual!

Well DD fell asleep at 9:20 after much fussing. She must have been shattered. I changed her at 10:30 but she was zonked out and I didn't try very hard to wake her for a feed so I just put her down.

I made the decision not to swaddle her arms as I figured she'd have to go into a sleeping bag soon enough. Apart from her hands being cold, it doesn't seem to have made a difference to her sleep except we've had less straining. She woke at 2:35 and I'm going to try to transfer soon

I've got a killer sore throat. It was creeping up on me all yesterday and inn prone to tonsillitis so I hope it dies down soon. I've not been ill soccer before I got pg with DD so it's just bleugh.

Ugh too many !!!! And random words. Yawn.

Uh oh, green poo alert...

I must be going loopy - I just recorded DS farting on my phone!

Same here with the 3am feed except it's moved to 2am now

Interestingly, our 3 am feed happened at 4am tonight, after a long day out which meant I fed him for an hour between 8.30 and 9.30 in the pub.

We had some friends joint hen/stag do, not that sort of do, so spent afternoon at the zoo, where I feed in front of vervet monkeys and cheetahs , then went back to some friend's for a cuppa (and another feed) and then to a gastro pub for dinner. He was in general a total star, and at the pub had all the waitresses wrapped around one of his adorably cute tiny fingers. We got home after 11.30 and actually managed to simply change him (turned out he'd done a total poonami in the car but not really shouted about it (very unusual)) and put him to bed, and here we are. Exciting as certainly our first big day out having to manage a whole series of events and locations etc and it really was quite ok.

Think slings are the only solution for truly Velcro babies. Though it must be hard work.

Urrgh. 3am feed was fine, nice and quick, went back down quite well, but we've been doing the dummy return dance since 4.45, both of us dozing intermittently between grizzles and grunts and trying desperately to persuade her that its not morning yet. Have finally given up. It's going to be a long day.

Vj, so sorry to hear about your cousin's ds, sending good vibes for a quick and total recovery.

Busy weekend here, and another monumental step in my perfect (hmm) mummy record. I expressed! Yes, actually expressed. OK, so my motivation was not one of total altruism, but we'll gloss over that. DH had been on dad duty and had done two formula feeds back to back (I was wasn't going to argue, I was having an afternoon off...) which had the rather perturbing side effect of leaving me with boulder boobs. Needs must, and the pump came out. I'm actually a bit of a convert now, and just thrilled to note that the medela pump unit is the exact colour of breast milk. Who'd have known.

Can totally see the logic of waking the little-uns for a 3am feed. I don't because dd is a piglet and can down a pretty good amount of milk in the day, has a last feed relatively late at 9pm, and the day in this house starts insanely early due to DH's commute, so if she's hungry at 5am I'm not particularly bothered. That said she did 10pm to 7am last night . To anyone struggling at night read my earlier posts - a few weeks ago I had a baby that would not go down at night, would only sleep on me or in my bed, would snack all night given the chance and I was posting on here asking for help. At nearly 11 weeks she now sleeps through, in her moses basket, and is turning into an absolute joy. There is light....

So envious of all your trips out. Other than the odd 2 hour hike round the forest I have yet to go anywhere exciting.... and those are more down to the velcro nature of the tiddler than any particular urge to tramp the district. She is however getting better. This morning she waited nicely in her moses basket whilst I had a shower, got dressed, boiled the kettle an made breakfast, and I wasn't even being quick about it. Some might say my pace was almost leisurely. I suspect however leisurely has a slightly different meaning in a house with a young baby than elsewhere in the world.

The cot is still in it's box. When I will find time to assemble it is anyone's guess!

Enjoy your sundays, and Wing Bf-ing in church???!!! You are one mad brave lady!!!

Well amazingly the grizzlies didn't start until 4.50 this morning so I count that a success as it's the longest he's gone. Managed an extra hour after the feed by Co sleeping but it was an early 6 start today and he's woken very grumpy today. Currently having a snooze and a cuddle on me so hoping he'll wake next time in a better mood.

Haven't sorted our cot yet either. It's up but has no mattress yet and needs a good dust. It's also full of boxes of baby stuff that either doesn't fit any more or we don't need and are waiting to be taken to my pregnant friend. Not very organised. There just is never enough time in the day.

worcs well done, my dd now isn't so hungry at 7 am anymore so I am thinking of not waking her at 3 am and seeing what happens tonight! If we have a good day and she feeds well ...

Wors I thought that exact thing about the Medela pump! I have the Swing one. It's great but I wish there was a way I didn't have to hold the bit you stick on your boob - although using it with batteries at least means you can walk around with one hand free. God knows why pumps are so expensive as they're not exactly complex technology and they're just plastic.

Kudos to all you wild and free BFers blazing the trail, I'm still a publuc BF virgin...

Vj, really hope your cousin's DS gets well soon - so scary. Do they know how he picked it up?

pud three becoming four sounds promising! DD did that a few times, then suddenly just didn't wake at all for that feed. We only got three nights of sleeping through though, and since then it's all been days where she's not had enough to eat so we've been doing an extra dream feed then. Except for last night, when the man's "alarm didn't go off" (which I am sure is code for "went off, he turned it off and went back to sleep secure in the knowledge that I would wake up and wake him up"). It's a bugger, I'd been quite enjoying there not being any crying in the night, but she woke at 3.45. If only he'd remembered that 2am dream feed, I could've slept for seven hours straight!

Wing DD is gaining, but slowly. She's gradually creeping closer to the 25 line on the chart, having been born just above the 75 and dropping to the 50 by day 5. I wonder if I'm just being paranoid, because she does grow, but then I look at the way she's feeding - bitching and refusing the bottle after an ounce when the last feed was eight hours ago - and it really doesn't seem right.

No Eurovision here, eco! We get enough godawful continental pop coming out of the window of Number 9, which contains an ever-increasing number of eastern Europeans.

zig for the dream feed, could you not try just sort of sticking your finger on his chin and gently pulling his mouth open? And head in sideways with the bottle slightly more upright than horizontal, and don't tip it up until the teat's over his (hopefully open) mouth.

Vj yes, very rude not to warn you about a party so you could get your earplugs out! We have similar trouble with Number 10 - the house is always empty, and the owners only ever turn up when they're having a party and don't want to piss their own neighbours off with the noise. Sods!

Eig sounds like you had a good evening!

SoYo no guilt! There's enough of the stuff washing about already, none of us need more. I'll do a spot of googling and see if I can find any stats about sleeping together versus separate rooms, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing like so clear as the sleeping on their backs thing. And look on the bright side: if you all get a bit more sleep, you're less likely to fall asleep on the sofa with baby, so you're actually reducing one of the SIDS risk factors.

Wing sounds like your baby's better than mine at arm control! Our last attempt at the sleeping bag ended after forty five minutes. She normally sleeps right through the danger zone at night, but with her arms out? No chance. Just smacked herself in the face until we put her back in the swaddle pod. I'm jealous, we have some really cute sleeping bags and I want to use them!

Been a busy weekend of in-laws here. DD certainly seemed to enjoy the incessant Brazilian Portuguese cooing from her step-grandma. They have just departed, and we are looking forward to a nice quiet Sunday with big feeds (no chance) and decent naps (yeah, right). Although actually what I am most looking forward to is bedtime, which for DD is in six and a half hours. Not quite sure where the day went, but we did manage a sort of good nap earlier - went down at 8, and so did I, she started shouting at 9 so I gave the dummy back and went back to bed. Must've worked because I suddenly woke up at 10 because she was shouting again.

Right, time for a cig before we hit the naptime danger zone...

Prepare to be amazed ladies. I'm about to paste a msg I got just now on FB from someone I used to teach at the uni I worked at, she had a baby very young and is now 30, of African descent and posts some really odd things about voodoo and strange pseudo science that make me think maybe she's not very well, iykwim...i'd posted a funny about my cult dream where I was kidnapped at Heathrow and had brandished a kitchen knife at OH because he was skipping around loving it:

''Leni... please listen to me. If u have a garden or balcony... stay at home as much as u can.... ur son is picking up on ur frustration and ur fear.... sing to him... play him 528hz ....AVOID ANY AND EVERY DISSONANT TONES... ELF WAVES... Buy magnets that will capture all the unwanted frequencies that are causing you both distress.. the changeover will be uncomfortable at first but PLEASE take it day by day. ur dream is serious... as I have a very close friend who's daughter is still in the custody of cult.... I last spoke with the mother on thurs... i dreamt something and i asked her if she her dghtr was ever pregnant whilst there... and she said it's funny u say that... she said yes... not so long ago.. she was pregnant... and at 4mnths she was drugged - so she can't rmbr much... however she rmbrs saying she wanted to get a knife to kill the zombies... when she awoke she was told the baby had died. Dnt be alarmed. Just focus on LOVE and amplify it to the fullest. This is why ur baby is clinging to ur breast.... please do not give him any other milk whatsoever!!! And avoid ALL dairy products and ALL "meat" (meat is really fruit... not what they tell the masses). AND no Corn or Corn products. Try and find as much non gmo food as u can... tbc''

Now, wtf?! Meat is really fruit?! Magnets?!

And why on earth would she tell me my dream basically means my baby will die?!

Literally speechless.... Think I may not reply

leni thank you, I needed that laugh! Elf waves?! Am in stitches here. I'd be all for replying, but where to start?

Wait there's more - sprinkle salt on the doormat, no cooked food, only close family in the house...

Have you ever used fb's blocking options cos that's where I'd be at right now...

Although, come the zombie apocalypse, we could all feel very silly < nods sagely>

Oh dear Leni... sounds like paranoid schizophrenia to me. A friend of mine was similarly odd until she got medical help. We were advised not to engage in the weirdness, just chat about other stuff in a positive happy way. The radio waves and magnets thing is a fairy common symptom.

Stormy - That's great if she is slowly catching up . I'd wonder if the thrush has just set her back. If she wasn't eating her stomach will have shrunk down and might need a little while to stretch up to a full feed. Same as an adult getting over a bout of illness. I'm no medic though, so that's a completely uninformed opinion.

Are the fairy symptoms linked to the elf waves...

worsester loving your "fairy" typo in the context of those elf waves

DD is actually slowly creeping down the chart, rather than up. The last two bottles we tried normal milk rather than comfort, no gaviscon. Four ounces drunk each time, though with some fussing and screaming towards the end. Back to the doctor tomorrow to investigate non-thickening reflux remedies!

And the bloody thrush is back. I could throttle that woman in the clinic who said it was gone.

Sorry, being slightly more serious, Worse is prob right. Is this someone you are in touch with properly (I know I have fb friends who I never see) as if so seeing if she is seeking some kind of help would be good, though its a tough subject to raise....

Leni I'm not sure where to begin with that...

Last night was pretty standard with 3 get ups before she came in with me but for some reason I really struggled with them, it was like swimming through treacle trying to get out of bed! Felt crappy this morning so woke DH at 8 to take her before going back for a snooze. I've been in a bit of a mood all day & had a go at DH about stopping doing a half arsed job of things around the house where I end up having to finish things he says are done & generally stepping up a bit more. Felt pretty bad because he must feel I'm always getting at him at the moment but on the other hand it was all true. Just wish it was more of a reasoned conversation than a stroppy nag. Oh well!

Miss Madam's very whingey this evening but trying to resist sleep....fun!

I meant to say, Stormy I think you're doing the right thing going back to the Dr. Ask about ranitidine for the reflux & explain that she takes the non-thickened milk so much better.

I can't believe the weekend's gone already! Time it flies in a cycle of change, feed, sing, bounce, settle doesn't it? DM & DF are coming up tomorrow to see the girl & help me get the house sorted. At least I'll get a lovely day of help (hopefully).