DECEMBER 2012: The start of crawling and the end of maternity leave

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Oh I really don't mind him having a bottle it was just the fact that id been feeding him for an hour and he was still starving.

If we are home ds has all naps in his cot now. I just plonk him in and he might have a small moan but generally goes straight off

Thanks for all the welcomes!

Poor Spotty I hope you feel better soon- you seem to have really bad luck..

We have an aspirator. Actually we have 2-one like a bulb the other with long thin tubes. The tube one is best. Often you need to use a saline spray first but it gets so much gunk out its great.

Finally cot napping here- if we're in. It's random though sometimes an hour sometimes 2 1/2..

I found you all again lest see if I can keep up this time ha ha!

Just looking back trying to catch up (hopeful) and seen spotty not been well. Hope you are on the mend spotty x

Thanks emily

Seymore I haven't tried an aspiration but I second the saline spray.

Sorry just trying to catch up on all the posts I've read but not taken in

Pidj it just have been nice to get home and just flop and spend some time with dh

We still have no signs of teeth or teething! I do remember molars being particularly horrendous though. We used teetha and ambesol liquid

I won't manage to catch up. Horrible teething baby is still here with no teeth :( this has to get better soon. I'm exhausted!

Sorry to hear others are going through the same!

I see we have some teethers! I used bonjela, seemed to work but as H's 2 bottom teeth came through quickly I'm not sure if it was just over too quick for him to cause a real fuss....saying that, I too have see massive bumps on the front of his top gums, my sis said its his two front teeth coming down

Emily be warned their front two teeth look really massive when they first come through

Ha ha! Thanks spotty . I wonder how he hasn't hurt his top gums with his bottom two teeth? They are soooo sharp!

A better night here. Only 3 wakings before 4am, then unsettled until I got up at 5. I'm still very tired though, and A looked a bit tired and spaced out when I left for work.

I need to decide what to do on Saturday. I'm meant to be meeting some colleagues for a drink (we all shared a technical mentor), but DH is working so I'd have to take both DC, drive almost 40 miles each way, and can't really even drink or anything. It's at 12, so right across lunchtime and I can't really justify shelling out for all of us. I think I'd rather go to a much nearer town and spend DD's birthday money.

Spotty fingers crossed you turn a corner today and start to feel better.

A was crawling backwards yesterday. So funny to watch how confused he was getting!

Goodness beasty you're doing well back at work with all those wake ups.
We had a reasonable night - dream feed at 10.30 then wake at 3 but settled with a cuddle after a little protest. But pride comes before a fall and wake again at 4 with lots of up and down and protesting so she ended up getting 2 very short feeds on the slow boob before going back down at 4.30. Up at 6.

I'm sort of used to it. I was back for a year before DD slept through. And by then I was pregnant, so soon into not sleeping through myself!

I'll just push on through and have a small lie in at the weekend (which just means any time after 5!). And look forwards to a year or two's time...

Oh barbeasty, it sounds grim when you put it like that.

Welcoome maryland and welcome back emily! We have lost so many people from the antenatal threads...

Spotty, fx today's the today everything kicks in and you feel better.

A better night here - she slept OK 7-10.30, but wouldn't take much at that feed and wouldn't settle. DIdn't want to be held... we let her cry and she slept until 4.30am. I think teething has finished for now (with no teeth through) as drooling and chewing have pretty much stopped. Hopefully it means we can resume our sleeping routines and get some better nights.

Boo seymore for ill baby. C naps in a darkened room - everything the same as for nighttime. She only ever used to do 45 mins but suddenly clicked and now can sleep longer. She's been asleep an hour now, and sometimes will do 1.5 or even 2.

I must say, I'm quite lucky with H really. He's been sleeping through the night for a while now, and the last couple of nights I've dropped the 10pm feed (reduced it at first) and he still sleeps through. On the flip side though, he's really demanding in the day, wants constant attention, not really one to just play with his toys for half hour while I get things done.(nothing gets done).

Someone mentioned feeling isolated, sorry cant remember who, but I know how you feel. I'm going to try and get to a baby group (I keep missing them) a) for H to interact with other babies and b) so I don't loose what marbles I have left

Hey Emily - that was me. I do have some local groups I go to but was so exhausted this week I couldn't face them.

And thanks for the perspective - you have a lovely little boy who sleeps wonderfully but is demanding during the day. I have a lovely little girl who sleeps dreadfully (at the moment) but will entertain herself for ages during the day. Swings and roundabouts!

T will sleep in his cot during the day now, though not for long. I started putting him into his cot at night on Monday, and on Tuesday tried his cot for daytime. Yesterday he even went for a nap without feeding till sleepy first.

Before Monday he'd not been in his cot for months. He'd always wake on transfer or a couple of minutes after and it just wasn't worth the lack of sleep persevering. I hadn't even tried the cot for weeks before this week.
I don't know if he's just grown up a bit, or if I'd left it long enough that there were no bad associations with the cot - but it worked well straight away with no crying.

However, he doesn't sleep long at a time, an hour maximum really. Day or night. Thing is, during the night he wakes and cries, I pick him up for maybe 30 seconds and he's asleep in my arms, a minute more and I can put him back and he'll keep sleeping. If I don't pick him up he'll scream and wake himself up and take much longer to settle. Any ideas how to "fix" this? Otherwise I'm going to him every 45 mins and just give up in the night because I'm so darn tired.

Another bad night last night. And right now I'm listening to him scream. I fed him and put him down asleep and he woke up after a couple of minutes. As above really, I've got him back to sleep with cuddles twice. Screaming doesn't seem to work at all.

Spotty are you feeling any better today? Have you managed to eat?

45mins of crying plus no sleep last night and I'm too frazzled and pissed off to remember what else I read. I'll catch up better later.

Stacks have you tried patting/shushing rather than picking him up? Holding his hand at the same time? Does he have any other comforter? Could you introduce one? Does he do the same with dh? Ummm I think my next step (and last resort) would be cc in the daytime at naps but it's hard and it's easier said than done and not for everyone.

I managed a little bit of readybrek but now I'm starting to feel hungry again and not sure what to have need to get something quick before I feel ill again....I'm feeling ok currently just hoping it doesn't go downhill again at lunchtime like yesterday

Oh stacks sorry to hear the sleep situation is so awful. I'm afraid my answer would be cc too. I guess he needs to learn to self settle -I feel your pain as dd1 was just as frequent at waking. I did cc with her and after 3 nights she slept 7 til 7 every night!! I did 'true' cc where I left for increasing amounts of time but you could stay and pat to offer reassurance if you'd rather. Steel yourself, it will be tough but if you see it through it will work.

Think this may have come up before but my frazzled brain can't remember, when is it ok to give normal water ..ie not cooled boiled?

6 months they can drink tap water

Thanks :)

These antibiotics have given me awful diarrhoea

I've got an interview for that job on Tuesday...doubt I will get it but never mind...

I feel really ashamed. T is exhausted but someone has replaced his mummy with a monster. I just can't keep my temper today. I've not shouted at him or in danger of hurting him, but I am seething beneath the surface. I'm sure he can feel it too, he's being so clingy and just crying or whimpering constantly. He won't even sit and play on his mat with me, I'm really really trying.
He slept from 10:10-10:30, and I've just got him down for another nap. I can see how tired he is, and its proven by just 5 minutes of quiet cuddles in the nursery before falling asleep - no feed required. If he's so tired why won't he sleep?
I tried sleeping while he slept earlier to improve my mood, but I need more than 20 minutes to get to sleep, so I think it just made things worse. I've raised the head of his cot this morning, in case it's reflux. Hopefully not having fed him will help with that too.

DH hasn't settled him to sleep since he was tiny. We were going to introduce daddy as a nighttime settler over the weekend, though I think I'll bring that forward to tonight or tomorrow. I'll sleep from 8-12 with earplugs and DH can settle.

What can one do with a baby in the rain? I have no friends so no one to call to come over or meet up with. There's no baby groups on either.

Spotty I guess it's early for lunch, but did you find yourself some food to keep the nausea at bay?

WL I don't like the idea of cc if there's any chance T is suffering pain from the reflux. He's been so unsettled at night recently I wonder if there's not something else going on. This morning he spent an hour tossing and turning from one side to the other. He'd settle for a few seconds with some deep breathing, then whine a little before turning over and trying to sleep again. Even feeding him only got him to sleep for 10 minutes or so before turning again.

Welcome Maryland and welcome back Emily. My T doesn't like being left to his own devices either, just doesn't seem interested in toys. However I manage to get a few things done sometimes, when the stars align by putting him in his highchair so he can watch me.

Mama glad your night wasn't too awful. Did she go back to sleep after the 4:30 wake up?

Beasty I am in awe of you handling lack of sleep. I obviously can't... Hope you get a nice long lie in at the weekend, though not so long it throws you off for the week (my DH does this and never learns).

IsThat hope you get teeth and/or sleep soon.

Seymour sorry to hear LO is poorly. Sending get well soon vibes your way.

I want to be positive about stuff. T is sleeping in his cot. I have had time to myself in the evenings. These are Good Things.

Stacks, don't feel ashamed. We all have bad days, I've also felt tile I don't even want H near me sometimes. The clinging and pulling can drive you mad, let alone with no sleep . Are you bf or ff? If you are ff I've seen some that are anti reflux. Hopefully once weaning is underway maybe it will calm down. Once you can rule out reflux then you may feel better about cc. I don't really have much advice as I'm new to all this and still figuring it out myself. I'm sure someone will come along with some better advice xx

Stacks don't forget that I'm out of the house at 6.30 four days a week, and don't have to deal with grumpy, clingy children until between 4 and 6pm. Makes the tiredness much easier to handle. Ask me again on Saturday or Monday when I've had them by myself all day!

Does he sleep in the pushchair or car? Maybe a nice long walk to give him a sleep would improve his mood for this afternoon, and fresh air can only help.

If you think it's reflux related can the gp or hv help do you think?

Otherwise, have you tried calpol? If he's struggling with teething pain, or going down with something it might make the difference and at least let him sleep a bit.

It's so difficult. It does get easier though, once they can talk and tell you at least a bit of what's troubling them.