December 2012 Babies Half a year already and still kind of sane.

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Ds is easy to get to sleep so I'm going to feed him on my bed (as I always do) and let dd sit next to me watching ceebeebies then once he's down I will take her to bed. She's at the stage of a million excuses not to stay in bed at the moment but hopefully she will be good for me! Dp's going to play football surprise surprise against ex professionals sonewhere in london (villa park? Who knows). Right bed for me, sending you all good sleep vibes!

I'm off to bed too. Even mil feels sorry for me (she's normally a bit 'poor DH')

In bed too feeling sorry for myself. Good nights all round fx. Night all

WL i could kiss you it helped her calm down So much so we filled the bath and jumped in together and she played happily with her toys. Shes a determined little ewok though she keeps trying to stand and has realised that she can do it by pushing her arms on the side of the bath and her feet firmly on the base.

Ski i forgot to say before i liked your style with DP at the party

Can i ask everyone do you let your babies cry? I keep getting told to let her cry but i can't seem to do it. I don't mean crying to sleep i mean if their playing and start crying do u sooth them straightaway?

Oh and FX for better sleeps all round

If its just a bit of a whimper-cry and I'm in the middle of something I'll finish what I'm doing before picking him up and I usually try talking to him first to see if that's enough but if he's properly crying I go to him straight away.

That's great news hales.
I always soothe straight away and only key her cry if I really have no alternative. I don't leave big 2 to cry if they are sad or hurt themselves (tantrums are another matter!). I don't believe it 'spoils' them.

I soothe Z straight away as he's not that much of a cry-y baby so if he cries it's because there's something I need to fix eg he needs to be held or he's done a poo or (as in the other day) he's bumped his head on the cot bars while I'm in the shower.

He wouldn't settle to sleep this evening and I was watching him in the monitor wriggling around and suddenly I saw something blueish coming in and out of the frame near his head! I tore upstairs to find that he'd managed to grab his Ewan the sheep that was at his feet and was waving it above his head, trying for dear life to get it into his mouth.

I went into work today for a keep-in-touch day. A colleague is recently back after her mat leave and she said that it was so hard to leave her baby and that she (colleague not baby) cried all weekend. Those of you that are back at work, how are you finding things?

I only leave ds to cry if I have to, I had to yesterday afternoon because he just wanted picking up but I was trying to chop a bloody sweet potato in fact it's usually only when I'm doing dinner or getting ready to go somewhere in the morning (nursery or doctors etc) sometimes he just has to wait.

Well he first woke at ten so I fed him then he woke again at 11:45 and I was a bit annoyed so refused to feed him and just patted his bum for a bit until he finally settled and he's just woken up again so five hours without a feed....

Wow good sleeping spotty our 6th wake up at 4.45 , the first was at 10.30. He's still awake atm though. I think it's teeth, he's got really rosey cheeks and he's grizzly!

He woke again at 4 but I patted him back to sleep and he's just woken again. I think I've just been too quick to feed him when he wakes as it seems like the easiest thing to do...

I soothe if it's a cry and finish what i'm doing then soothe for s whinge.

Good sleeping here, he went down at 8:30 then up at... Wait for it... 4! DP got up as I feel so poorly and then j's just woken at 7:30 He must feel the same as me as he keeps making the same snuffly and throat clearing noises.

We didn't have a great night as usual. I did get a long (for us) stretch of sleep between 12:15 and 3:30, but I noticed he was wet through at 4:20, so we had to get up and changed and he didn't settle again till after 5:30, then was disturbed till 7:30 when we got up. So I've pretty much been up since 4:30 :(
DH is home with man flu, so I've got a little bit of help today, though all of it with little whimpering noises from DH. I'm not great at sympathy, though I'm trying to learn how to fake it.

I soothe T pretty much straight away for cries and complaints. Though mostly because his squeals are so ear piercing I can't stand to leave him. I do always tell him off though "no shouting, you talk to mummy, not shout". One day it'll make sense to him and hopefully he'll learn.

I'm usually in the middle of dinner with ds screaming and dd shouting 'muuuuummmm Felix is cryyyyyiiiiinnngggg'

Just had to wake ds from his nap as I've got a doctors appointment I hate waking him!

I think last night would have been a good night, with just one wake for food, if I hadn't woken so often!

Left both DC with MIL, as a practice for next week, and I'm off to meet my nct group later and eat cake. I'll be the spare hands so everyone gets to have tea & cake & a wee!

Seconds I think if you mentally prepare yourself it doesn't have to be so bad. Keeping in touch days help, because it's amazing how out of place I felt last time after a year away. And I think most important is to be happy with your childcare. If you're confident DC's well looked after it's ok. That said I really hated work when I went back before. Might just. Be my work though, because I still hated it when I started this maternity leave!

It feels bizarre that I have no qualms about leaving the DC this week, but I'm not too enthusiastic about going to work next week.

Tabs spends lots of dinner prep times in the sling! She did a bit better last night, lots of wakes and some wandering round the house but then slept 3-7. She's still quite snotty but really hope that's a sign of getting back to normal. If it goes on much longer I will take her to dr to out illness then I'm afraid it will be no more mrs nice mummy. I don't want to but cannot live on just a few hours of broken sleep a night. I'm starting to get resentful (all aimed at poor DH - not T, she's too cute!) which is not good for anyone. Taking them all for a walk in the woods and play in the park soon.

I have just driven to a nearby beach kiosk to get the boy to sleep. I am now drinking coffee and reading my kindle. Bliss!

I'm made up you have all said you pick up when crying i'm getting alot of lectures about leaving her when she cries. But i just can't do it she's not a whingy baby normally so i think if she cries she wants me. But i cannot get that through to some people.

My view is that they are still little yet. They are largely immobile and inarticulate so crying is the only way they can communicate. They don't cry for fun! Like all of us they will sometimes whinge about something that's not really a problem and then we as grown ups sometimes have to make a judgement call.
Unfortunately as a parent you will always receive advice you don't want!

So dp has taken the day off as he's leaving in just over an hour but he's moaning he's knackered after having to pop to tesco with dd then play with her a bit

Not so knackered he can't play football though. Bet you're too knackered to do things you would enjoy all the time (like I am).

Yep or even normal things like having a bath! Ds has fallen asleep feeding so I'm just lying on the sofa with him and his blanket-lovely

Ah lovely sleepy cuddles Spotty, watch out for unseen face punches/fingers up your nose.

Hales repeat after me: smile and nod, smile and nod. and if that fails tell them to mind their own fucking business I get this a lot esp from MiL. but on Saturday she saw its not as easy as feed every 4 hours and stick them in bed at 7!

Enjoy your mini break FoD

Hello all.

Hales, C doesn't cry much, and when she does in the daytime it's either because she's hurt herself (hits herself in the face with toys sometimes) or she's tired (lots of that lately). The former, I comfort her but don't always have to pick her up, the latter I always pick her up as it escalates otherwise. Agree with 'smile and nod'!

Another awful night here. ISthat i have sympathy! She woke up at 2.30am, had a feed, and then was up playing for an hour. I tried putting her to sleep about 3 times but she woke up on transfer to the cot every time - obviously not sleepy enough to stay asleep. So I finally got back to sleep at about 5.30am. Bloody exhausting. I am OVER JET LAG.

Our shop arrived today so I've made some butternut squash (supposed to have lentils in but we didn't have any), and some leek and celeriac. That was so delicious I had to stop myself from just eating it. Forgot to buy fruit on my shop so will need to get something - she loves apple, so I might try to branch out. The amount she has improved with her eating just since we got back from Aus is amazing.