Still brooking no argument for sleep, glorious sleep!

[Stacks]

This will be the thread where all brooking babies learn to self settle and sleep through the night (the real version, not that 5hr at a time thing).

Little, sorry to hear about the cmpi, the sleep sounds like a killer too. Are you going to cut dairy out of your own diet while you're still bfing?

Olives, I know this is a terrible thing to say, but thank goodness I'm not the only one with a mildly psychotic older child! Ok, I know they're not, but it does feel like they're doing it to get a reaction, any reaction. They're only little and I think they don't really 'get' empathy till they're quite a lot older. E1 treats E2 like a doll sometimes Luckily E2 is very chilled out and solidly built, I think a more delicate/sensitive child would be traumatised by now.

Sleeeeeep - I am a terrible mother It has been SHIT these past 2 weeks. She's been sleeping a maximum of about 30 minutes in the daytime, on me. She's also not been going to sleep till 10/11 at night. That's the one thing ive been able to rely on before, having my evenings to myself. Then up through the night from about 1-2am. We thought it could be a growth spurt or the cyst causing her discomfort. I resigned myself to the bad nights and whingey days and carried on bad-temperedly.

Then yesterday afternoon I noticed she was a bit red around her bum. Thought it looked more like thrush than nappy rash. Dug out an unopened tube of clotrimazole and some sudocrem, whacked it on her and would you believe it, she slept! Down at bedtime, woke for one feed in the night. She also had a lovely 40 minute nap this morning, and a 2 hour one after lunch.

I can't believe she must have had thrush for two weeks and I didn't notice . Poor baby. Where's the 'crap mother' emoticon?

Little, sorry to hear about the cmpi diagnosis. You get used to it though, honest!

Gen, so glad to hear CC has worked so well for you! Did you manage to sleep all night while they did?!

Oops, hadn't finished! Olives, sounds like usual behaviour to me - sounds like it was very spur of the moment, and that he regretted it as soon as he realised the consequences! Parenting two must be so much more of a challenge than just the one..

Smegs, we've all done similarly. Wondered why I was so ratty and sleep deteriorating... looked a couple of days later and a molar has come through She'd have probably felt a thousand times better had I realised and dosed her up...

S'up brookers?

Another crappy check in from me.

Still bit much sleep here.

Feeling a bit frazzled.

Away to try and catch up as usual. . .

Not much FFS.

Crappy start to bank holiday here.
Still no pediatrician appointment for J despite 'urgent' referral and me ringing to chase three times yesterday.
Another blocked duct for me.
Had to take cat to ooh vet, which cost £250. Poor thing has torn inner eyelid and is booked in for surgery tues am. It costs £2000. The insurance only covers £1000.

Sorry to be such a moaner, but I'm peed off today!!

Oh Little thats pants!! I hope your puss is doing ok. I can't believe that J's appt hasn't come through yet either!! M was referred to paeds by the GP last Thursday and we had the Choose and Book paperwork in the post 24 hours later! We then headed straight on our hols so I've only just got round to sorting WiFi tonight to go online and book and the appt is only 2 weeks away (would have been sooner if it hadn't have been for DHs shifts) I would kick up a real stink if it's not sorted by now. We are in the beautiful Lake District but things are far from relaxed with M's poor sleep and resulting foul temper! Things all came to a head last week which is why we have a paeds referral - just hope they can help!

Nice to see you Jaggy, sorry sleep is elusive in your house still!

How's everyone else?

Oh and T was 6 months on Monday He's such a little cutie now, and he's loving BLW I'm not but I do love him sitting at the table with us looking all proud of himself although I have to resist the temptation to clean him/the floor up after every mouthful!

Quick post to find you all again, then I'll go read back.

Olives sorry to hear M's behaviour is still making all your lives tough. I hope you can get some good help and advice from the paeds. Sounds like your area has a good referral system. J's has finally come through, but it's not til 25th sept. So much for urgent .
Six months is a lovely age isn't it, J is such a cutie now too. Though he's been in a bad mood all day today!

How is everyone else?

Stacks, saw on fb you were doing sleep training with T, any success?

We've seen the surgical consultant. He doesn't recommend removing the cyst till she's at least a year old. So we're booking in for next March/April. Thank fook for that

He was very nice, really great with E2 and put us at ease, answered all our questions without patronising us. But I still wanted to punch his lights out when he talked about incisions!

Sleep training, you say? Must wander over to FB and see how you're getting on. Can't see that day coming for us soon, sadly - she cries herself into such a state

Hey Little how are you? The six month stage is super cute, though somehow it seems like ages ago already. T is 'only' 8 months, but it all goes by so quickly. I think in going to have to start taking more videos of T just being T, they change before you realise it.
On that note I downloaded a great app a while back for iPhone called Day One. It's a journalling app basically, but you can use your iPhone pictures in the entries, and it all backs up to the cloud or Dropbox. I've been writing to T most days, like a diary of memories for him. Good days, bad days, cute things etc. It's nice even now to look back at last month and see what's changed.

Sleep training has worked scarily well. He spent all last night in his bed with no interaction from me, though still woke 6/7 times through the night. He settled each time with no crying. Overall he's cried way less since we've 'left' him to cry! 15 mins to sleep last night, 2 minutes tonight. I think he must have been really close to self settling anyway, we've just given him a gentle nudge. He's been asleep without a peep for 3 hours tonight so far - DH and I have spent the evening watching a movie together. It's been nice having some time for ourselves.

Hope everyone else is well. I've mostly been reading Facebook recently, but hoping to start keeping in touch on here too now.

Glad the meeting went well smegs must be a weight off your mind to just put it to one side for a while?

I think I've been tremendously lucky with T and the sleep training. It could have all been so much worse. Even now though I have moments of guilt - does he cry so little because he feels abandoned and alone and like no one cares anyway? :(

Just a quick hello to all.

Stacks well done re the sleep training! Did you do CC? I'm sure T isn't crying because he now knows how to go to sleep by himself, certainly not because he feels there's no point.

Back at work (new school - big headache trying to get my head around new place, people, systems, topics etc, but my department seem lovely) and of people whose LOs have successfully sleep trained. I wanted to try CC in the holidays but DH didn't feel ready for that step (maybe cos he isn't the one feeding DS back to sleep throughout the night ) and I wasn't confident that it would work without hours of distress for all concerned, so we still have rubbish sleep here. Sigh.

Hi Pet we did do CC. It was much easier than I thought it would be, but I think T was probably quite close to making the transition himself, or at least in a place where he was willing to learn (disclaimer: I don't think babies that cry longer are not ready, very baby is different!).

The first night he took only 15 minutes to settle himself, I went in twice (after 2 minutes and 4 minutes), he'd stopped crying by 10 minutes and was asleep within 15. Overall there was much less crying than a normal bedtime with a number of failed transfers to cot. He then woke around his usual 6 times, but settled back to sleep with just mild grumbling and no need for me to go in to him. This was also the first time he'd ever not fed at night - best previous was 3 feeds.

Second day was a bit more crying, 3rd day more, last night was less than 1 minute of crying, and tonight was just 2 minutes. It is very hard to hear them cry, even for a short time. I think because you're doing it 'on purpose'. T has seemed much happier through the day with his extra sleep though (last night was 7:30pm - 5am!), so I'm feeling happy with our decision to sleep train.

Btw, my DH didn't like the idea really, but I showed him a couple of articles and discussed it with him to get him on board. If it doesn't work for you one night, you can always just stop and go back to feeding to sleep for a couple more weeks. My DH (who, granted hasn't had to listen to the CC) now wishes we'd have done this weeks ago. He has a happy baby and a happy wife.

Articles linked by Brookers on Facebook -

study showing no positive or negative long term effects from CC

A look at the science behind the opinions

I thought there was one other too, but I can't seem to find it.

I'm not saying you should do CC, you have to be totally certain it's what you want to do before you start. If you're not, you'll wobble and feel terrible about the whole thing. I found the articles above useful in making my decision though. That and the abysmal sleep!

I hope you settle into the new school quickly. It must be so hard working alongside awful sleep, I can't imagine it.

Hey all, not posted for a while as been hectic in RL. I am now Mrs Loopy and my Dad has been v ill so spare time has been almost non existent what with wedding stuff, visiting him and dealing with 2 ds's. ds2 was 1 this week, can't believe how fast the last year has gone by! Will soon be planning on dc3, thinking that an oct 14 baby would be lovely, as ds1 is nov birth and ds2 is sept birth, but no guarantee plans will work, periods are yet to return and anyhowwe were lucky both times to conceive in first month so fully expecting that as i am that bit older it may not happen as quick! Not PC to say so but I would dearly love to add a girl to our family but not sure how likely that is or if there is really any proven method to influence this or whether they are just old wives tales! Hope everyone else is ok out there!

Congratulations on your wedding loopy!
And hello to all!

Ok, after some thoughts or experiences from you all.

So, we haven't exactly had an active sex life since ds2 was born (no reason other than both so knackered and DH has long days at work inc a 2 hour+ commute to get to work) but we DTD on Friday night. DS2 was 1 the day before, no AF's since he was born. With ds1 I had to cut him down to one feed per 24 hours to restart AF to conceive ds2. Ds2 still feeding 3 times per day so I assumed that there was no chance I could fall pregnant yet. But on Monday I noticed a pinky tinge on toilet paper and cervical mucus is significantly drier than it has been lately. Now worrying that we have been stupid, as we were not planning to start trying until January, as aside from Oct being an ideal birthday for us and for being one of the oldest in the school year, it works financially as would mean my maternity leave for third would end just as our second gets his free nursery hours and just as our eldest starts school, which would keep nursery fees to an affordable amount. Am I worrying for no reason or does anyone think it could be I ovulated on Sunday or Monday and therefore could be pregnant? I really didn't think I would have to be thinking about AF returning for at least a couple more months...now can't stop thinking about it all (With both ds's we conceived first month of trying so I guess as a couple we are rather fertile....)

Statistically it is highly unlikely so I wouldn't worry too much - just make sure you use contraception from now on just in case!
Obviously there is the possibility of pregnancy but I'll brook for it not to be this time! Now that's a first!!

Hi all, wow it's quiet in here at the moment.

Good to see Pet & Loopy again :)

Stacks, how's the sleep training going, still good I hope?

Smegs, good that you don't have to worry about the op for a while yet. I think unders 1s aren't usually operated on unless its essential.

Sorry for my lack of posting, but even I am getting bored of hearing myself moaning! We have finally got J's appointment for the 25th sept. He has now had a bad reaction to the two times he has been given bread, so now have to discuss wheat/gluten intolerance with the pediatrician too, which in finding more depressing than the dairy. He is however, the most gorgeous, cuddly, delicious boy ever and I wouldn't change him for anything ;) :)

Hi everyone,

little my friend thought her DD might be dairy intolerant aged 2.8, as she just never had solid poos, so they couldn't really start potty training etc etc etc. She tried cuttign out dairy, which she said was awful. That didnt affect her DD, so then she tried cutting out wheat. 48 hours later, solid poos for the first time EVER for her DD. She said it was way easier than dairy free, loads of cafes have gluten free cakes, she just bought gluten free pasta and bread and then her DD could eat everything as normal. No dairy and no soya and no egg= absolutely nothign creamy/ cheesy/ cakey for DT1 here, so I'd much prefer wheat intolerant. However, not on top of dairy intolerant too mind... I feel robbed having a multiple intolerances BF baby. Why the heck did I struggle so much to ebf both for this?!

loopy, we did not have big struggles ttc our 3. I had one early mc at 5 weeks before I got pg with my DD. I then waited a little while, but got pg within a couple of months. Then I had to cut down feeding to re-start af, then was pg with the dts within 3 months. I have not had a period since I had the dts and they are 17 months now. I have also not used any contraception. Well, I tried the progesterone only pill but horomonal contraception makes me a total mentalist. I feel really low and weepy am snappy and irrational, so I stopped that after 3 months to see if my mood imrpved and it did. A few times I have wondered if I'm pregnant, but no. I'm going to agree, and say you could be in teh 6% or whatever it is of women who fall pregnant without having a period, but I think it's unlikely. Soon, I will have to either convince dh into a 4th baby, (or 4th and 5th?!) or just decide re:contraception. I'm basically being a real wuss about having a coil. I hate anything like smears, and dreading the actual insertion, plus i thought VE's in labour were excruciating. It is only 3-4 mopnths earlier than you were hoping for, would it be a total disaster or would things just be really impossibly tight for those first few months of #3's life?

I don't post much as all I do is complain about lack of sleep ... Must be more interesting things happening for all of the other Brookers, it's dull hearing me go on about teh Amazing Non Sleeping Baby.

Hi all. You keep dropping off my threads list and I'm bad at looking you all up after. Still, we're getting sleep now, so I've no excuse :)

T has had a terrible cold the last week, he's just getting better now, though I'm still suffering. He's currently lost his voice though, which is cute nice and quiet a real shame. Last night he was back to sleeping through, so luckily it's not thrown him off too much.

I don't ever really have much to say. My life is pretty boring really, just home all day with T. When we do go it, which is actually quite often, it's not to anything exciting. I do wonder sometimes if this is it for the next few years? Nothing to talk about with my (childless) friends ever?

So sorry to hear about struggles with intolerances. T seems to have a problem with eggs, but handles dairy fine now. He's still on reflux meds, but I'm wondering about trying to stop them and see if they're still doing anything.

Loopy congratulations on your wedding! So sorry to hear about your dad though, is he better now?

Hello to everyone else.

Thanks Green and Dream, I keep trying to think that the odds of ovulating after all this time without having an AF and then it fertilising and having a long enough luteal phase for implantation from just one random DTD are tiny odds, but I've had cramping today, which at 7 days from DTD would be the right sort of timing for implantation...guess it could just be an impending AF, but I don't remember getting pains on my one and only AF after having ds1. Anyone get that?

Dream, 4 months would make a big difference, as amongst other things my industry only ever advertises full time jobs and I was intending to stop being self emp and land a full time job then have next child with hope of then returning part time, and money will be really really bad if I am pregnant right now, as I sold my clients, I get a lump sum jan 15, but no other income for me until then unless I go back and try to start from scratch, but it will cost about £2k in fees to go back with no guarantee of any income in return plus would mean dragging both boys on a 100 mile journey and back again each month for a compulsory meeting and packing overnight stuff for us all each time on my own, plus cost of the diesel, or get a full time job. If pregnant now then I cant see how i could get maternity allowance (have paid nic stamp but not actually gone back so not done any work or earned anything since Jan 13) and I can't see me being offered a job whilst pregnant....and still the issue of a BF ds2 who has never managed to latch to a bottle (born tongue tied, lip tied and with a high palate) so was thinking that in 2 months he might finally start taking milk from something other than me, could get a job and start before ttc started...

Loopy I had a couple of days of cramping before my AF, which decided to come back yesterday. I didn't even think of AF when I had the cramping, too long since I've felt period pain I guess! I never used to get it pre-AF, it's always been a mid bleed symptom before.

I'm feeling quite grumpy with this AF, keep getting short tempered with T and DH. Also and upset stomach which I'm really not liking. I wonder if there's anything I can take to help, anyone know?

So I think we've pretty much decided to start TTC #2! All the Facebook comments were really useful, and DH and I have sat down and talked it through. We're going to try from now till Christmas, if nothing by then we'll take a break and try again next summer. One Christmas baby is enough. I feel really nervous, but also excited. I think it's the right decision for us.

How's everyone else getting on? It's been a really wuiet thread recently.