March 2013 - still too sleep deprived to think of a funky title

[StormyBrid]

Old thread here.

We seemed to be running out of space (again) so I made us a new thread.

That's interesting re: PCOS wors, like I said we'd been trying for a while but actually conceived not long after I started a low GI diet and a selection of vitamins and minerals that made me rattle I read about in a 'how to cope with PCOS' book. I'm a bit cynical about these things and put it down to coincidence but maybe I should find it all and start again in preparation.

The shred was pretty grim but it's over as quick as it starts, and dd enjoyed watching, she thought it was hilarious. I'm a little concerned about the state of my pelvic floor though. Needs some serious work. And yes plonky, rubber pants for the jumping jacks may be necessary next time...

plonk that links just takes me to the 6 month old eating chicken...now, that kinda shred I can do! it's probably my phone so I'll have a look when I'm on the computer!

eco what a nightmare of a day! Glass or 2 of wine for you tonight, I think? The blueberry nappy wasn't quite blue, not far off though. It's only going to get more interesting, isn't it?

Oh no any . Here's hoping Anybaby will be so tired now that you'll get a good night.

As far as I'm aware the low GI diet thing has more than a little science behind it VJ, and makes a lot of sense when you consider that metformin (a diabetes drug for stabilising blood sugar) is routinely prescribed for PCOS sufferers. PCOS is often related to insulin resistance.... but you probably know all this stuff already. In my case although metformin was reducing the cysts, it was also making me really ill, so decided to go DIY and manage blood sugar levels through diet and exercise.

Plonky I got the chicken too. That was scary enough. If the worselet is guzzling like that in less than 2 months, I'd better start stocking the freezer.

I need to google shred now don't I? It's going to bug me otherwise!

Bugger. Clearly I haven't copied and pasted anything since the chicken guzzler.

Ahem. let's try the link again After Vj posted I googled the shred and saw some pretty impressive images. I hate going to the gym and will use almost much any excuse not to exercise, but as Vj says, this ones over before you know it. But my thighs are already getting stiff.

Any we had a fortnight of just the highest pitched squealing all day all the time like it never ends because that'd provide a nice calm house and the babysaurus is not interested in that. Listen, he'll scream to prove it. It drove me up the goddamn wall if you can't tell. But it does end.

Pud you're the one who's hardcore! That sounds like a day from hell. Glad you're home safe now.

Oh ffs. I cannot make YouTube links work anymore.

Geeeeez - thank all the gods that i'm back on my phone after throwing it at the wall a few times and a reset. Had to download all my apps again but am back in the game.

Epic day eco - who's going to play you in the film?

Ha Plonky, think you meant Eco who had one rather more exciting than mine! I just sat at home and watched ridiculous rain storms and tried to persuade myself that it made me feel better about the epic amounts of money we have spent on the house recently to keep weather on the outside. I also sorted out the dumping zones in the hall, and worked through the last of the boxes if crap treasure passed over as 'my stuff' from my parents' recent move. Did include the incredibly cute smocked dress my sister made for me when I was 4 which I cannot bear to part with and may yet make DS wear when he's big enough cos I kept it for my kid and he's likely to be an only

Can't believe I'm up feeding, but then sort of can. 19 week old DS has been getting hungrier and sleepier the last few days... Seem to remember 19 weeks was interesting for several of you lot. Sure teeth are shifting too, but none actually cutting yet. Poor boy.

Am ridiculously excited awaiting delivery of new sling. Have gone for boba 3G after a play with several from one of my groups. Now want it to arrive so I can try DS in it!

Real nappy update for anyone interested... So pleased we did this! It's a doddle! Now I only have the ones I want they are easy to use, very quick drying (overnight even when not stupidly hot when a couple of hours will do it on the line!) and now I am also in the swing of washable wipe - just have a bowl of water to hand on changing table, and they're so much better for poo! - it feels like I keep forgetting stuff on the shopping list I spend so much less money time in the baby aisle. Am actually using them full time, no problem, had intended to stick to sposies overnight but just no need. And life is so much nicer without a constantly ovflowing bin. Totally converted! Of the 2 types I have, I use the lollipop pop n gro overnight. It fits DS well, I'd a well priced nappy and has booster options. Can see aplix (Velcro) might get tired over time ESP as dh always fogets to use the laundry tabs. The bumgenius freetimes I have are snap fasteners and I think may last better though are more expensive. Very easy and quick though harder to boost in future and I haven't dared try one overnight yet. Love them for daytime though. Both are excellent at containing poo. Either will leak when forced into the bumbo . Washing is a load every 2-3 days. Just dump entire mesh bag into machine. No touching required. Just great for me!

Pud you are exactly the person I need to talk to. Have been considering going fully reuseable, with the wipes- did you buy them or make your own? Bought ones seem really expensive for what they are. What are they made of? How many do you get through? Do you change dc in the bathroom so you can flush the liner straight away? I'm struggling because I'm full of good intentions but inherently lazy so it needs to be easy!

I bought them, well they came as part of the pack I bought plus some extra to top up. I have 30 and that's plenty. One does a wee, 2 a normal poo and even total poonami hasn't required more than 3 . I have a mix of 10 terry towelling and 20 bamboo. The latter are bigger and prettier colours and very slightly softer but don't think there's much in it.

I change on his chest of drawers in the nursery. I open the nappy bucket and put dirty nappy on the lid. Wipes go straight in bucket. Once new nappy on, take lid through to bathroom to flush liner and wash hands. Return lid. Works for me.

No extra washing as you're doing the nappies anyway. I dry them on one of those knicker driers which fold out to have 10 or so pegs. Also so the boosters on this. Dry overnight. Then I keep them in a pretty basket on the changing table.

I had fleece ones in the trial bucket and didn't get on with those as they just moved poo around rather than wiping it off. No probs with these though.

Ooh... Postmans just delivered the sling...

hello vj, pud will doubtless have some pearls for you but just thought i'd share what we do.
I bought mini muslins from mothercare we use the coloured ones for bum and white for face/chin/everywhere else. we bought a mini bucket and a couple of draw string mesh bags (lakeland?). we line the bucket with that, pop about 4 inches of cold water in the bottom with few drops of lavender and tea tree essential oil and then chuck the dirty mini muslins in there. at nappy wash time we take bucket to machine, tie string and pop in machine (rinsing bucket ready for next time). this way the little tiny muslins all get washed but you don't have to pick them out from your nappies. to dry them we hang the bag in the sun and do not faff with folding them each time. for mega poop we also have some mini baby flannels from poundland that we shove in with the mini muslins. this works for us, but use water wipes when out and about.

sorry for lack of caps - am on laptop and pumping as have been away from dd all morning with my boss working and boobs are like boulders.

ah...cross post with pud .... see i told she'd have wise words vj :-)

Ooh those little Muslins look great Eco!

Thank you both. Just found a load of fleece in my sewing box so cut that up to see how that works (sounds a bit hit or miss with fleece pud, guess its the type of fleece but some people say it works well and some say it just smears poo!) and if that doesn't work I'm going to try those mini muslins. Like the sound of your system as well eco, esp drying them all in the bag, don't really fancy hanging them all out separately! At the moment we don't have enough covers to use them all the time, which means I can't wash often enough unless I do tiny washes, which defies the point! God I love mumsnet, nobody in RL uses them so I've been making it up as I go along!

Well, we had a fun night. DD wouldn't go to sleep at 7.30 and took an hour of cuddling/dentinox/shushing before she accepted it was bedtime. Then I got a lovely whimpering over the monitor - found she turned and got her head wedged against the bars of the cot. Sorted her out and backed away carefully. Only checked clock on way back to bed - it was only 1am. Then she cried again half an hour later, so had to resettle her. Basically, I haven't slept properly as I was listening out for the next squeal. DH snored and slept soundly throughout so obviously felt like smacking him.

Teething is so. much. fun.

We had a similar night, Any. Ds ended up in our bed at 4.30, was wide awake with his big starey eyes and wanting to chat. He'd not eaten much during the day (about 28 flozzes, small for him) so I fed him and guzzled 7 flozzes in about five minutes.

The whole time DP was moaning 'oh ill be tired at work now' etc. So I finally brought up something that's been bugging me and he didnt notice. Basically we cannot have ds sleeping in our room anymore because he wakes too easily. We stayed at my parents last weekend and ds was of course in our room. At 1 he was wide awake and I knew that cosleeping was a possible solution but the bed was too small for the three of us. Instead of him taking one for the team and going down to the sofa I ended up on it, with ds snoring softly. At 4 am I was nearly in tears and ds and I got in my mums bed (dad sleeps elsewhere thank goodness) and my mum got up with ds at 7.

We're staying at PILs this weekend and I'm worried. Basically I'm expecting no sleep. My DARLING PARTNER fails to see the problem.

Any we've had a couple of rough ones too & I'm a bit beyond tired so have spent the last 48hrs screaming & swearing at DH that he does the bare minimum, never offers to help & it's no bloody wonder only I can settle her now as only I care for her . I now feel fairly guilty.

We had a couple of really good nights at the weekend & I think a little part of me thought we'd cracked it which has made these last 2 so much worse. Last night she went down at 8, woke at 8.40 then 45m screaming before back down, then she woke at 11 & we tried for 90mins to settle her but she just wailed until I fed her, then up every 2-3hrs. I think I might have crossed over into zombie land.

Don't feel guilty soyo - the DHs don't do much at this stage as the novelty has worn off and they're waiting for the interesting stuff before getting involved again. I had to literally hold my DH's hand, after about two months of begging him to give DD her bath he did it the other night but I had to run the bath, undress her and then redress her when he'd finished. Might as well not have bothered. I keep randomly asking 'oh, are you doing anything right now?' and then nipping out without DD for some 'me time' - albeit a dash round Tesco or returning some library books, but u don't give him the chance to say no!
plonky - you have every right to be angry if your DH doesn't even notice there's an issue that he could help with. Mine notices and chooses to ignore it/leave me to it. I don't know which is worse...

plonko if I were you I'd tell him you're not going to the PILs. When he asks why, tell him because you'll get no sleep. Or if you're on close enough terms, ring his mother and say you'd love to come and stay but the sleeping arrangements need looking at first.

There must be something in the air at the moment, because it's been meltdown here for a couple of days too. On my part, not DD's. Came closer than ever before to actually having an argument with the man (because he said I was having a hissy fit when I'd been crying all morning). If the hv could see me she'd be going on about post natal depression, and admittedly my brain does feel a bit wonky in a chemical imbalance sort of way, but it's mainly just sheer bloody exhaustion. I cannot cope with three hours' sleep a night.

We tried reducing the size of the second night feed. This prompted a third night feed. But twice this week the first feed's been unusually late, between one and two am, and then she's held out until after six. This morning was surprisingly good - fed at 1.15, woke at 6.15 and looked like there was no chance she was going back to sleep, but I fed her and changed her and went for a fag then did a dummy return, and she went back to sleep until 8.30, whereupon she squeaked once then amused herself quietly until I got her up at nine. Nights like that I can handle.

Remember when the heatwave started and we were all fretting about sleeping bags being too hot, and spending small fortunes on muslin sleeping bags? I could have been so smug if I'd actually checked the contents of DD's bottom drawer then - I just found a cotton sleeping bag in there. It's been there since May, and I had no idea.

Excuse lack of name checking, my memory and this phone app are still having issues.

Hey stormy . No one would be able to thrive on 3 hours sleep. One night of that is hard, let alone several consecutive ones. But remember you are coping. With all of the feeds, nappy changes, baths, dressing you are doing you are coping, and coping brilliantly with a hard situation. These little boggers change their tunes so rapidly that this time next week you might have a sleeper on your hands. At which point might it be good to try some of those there herbal pills to help you sleep? If we were near Hull we'd all be knocking on your door offering to help and lending you an ear. We can still do that virtually of course but I have no pearls of wisdom on the help front but you can vent on here and we'll listen and respond. Keep going!

and plonky so PIL have an en-suite room at all? If so could travel cot go in the bathroom? Just a thought. It's def a situation that needs sharing by your OH.

There must be something in the air with OHs at present. I was a vile bag to mine this morning just as he left for London and an interview but he had done something a bit dense with dd

Stormy if I were you I'd be tempted chuck full tubs of formula directly at his head. Nothing worse than being given the impression that you need to get a grip when you're bloody exhausted and mentally knackered to boot. As Eco says, if any of us were nearby we'd be whisking your dd away and making you go for a lie down in a big comfy bed with fresh sheets.

Well I feel like the worst mother on the face of the planet. Just had a visit from the hv. Apparently I shouldn't be weaning him and his bottles are too big. She did remark that he was alert and happy though, but clearly that's nothing to do with me because I'm getting it all wrong. She seemed alarmed that he cries when he poos (always has) but had no real advice. I don't think I'll be subscribing to the hv's word any longer, it's too much.

I have texted MIL to explain the sleeping dilemma and she said she's going to have a think. We can't get out of going (not that I'd want to, I actually like dp's family) as its sil's birthday. The only ensuite is pil's bedroom, and there's going to be possibly 11 people staying in a 4 bed house.

plonk what??! That's ridiculous!! Does he finish his bottles? Does he eat the smushed up food you give him? He's a healthy, happy, thriving baby boy and if the hv can't see that then she needs to reevaluate her career. DS cries when he's pooed here too. And frankly, I don't blame them! You know your DS better than anyone and you're doing everything right for the both of you.

Those of you with pain-in-the-neck OHs, I offer you a bottle glass of wine. Usually OH here is exactly the same but recently it's like a switch has flipped. He washed...and sterilised...the bottles the other night!!! And has just text me to say I should take a rest while DS is sleeping and not worry about tidying up til he's home. Very VERY strange behaviour.

It's been a frantic morning here. We're moving house at the end of August so this one has got viewings nearly every day until they get new tenants. It's very hard to pack your life into boxes as well as try to maintain a clean home for viewers! And on the packing note, I boxed DS's clothes up yesterday. When did this lump of a baby eat my newborn? I can't believe he ever fit into some of them and he must be crazy if he thinks I'm going to let him get big enough to fit into gasp 9-12...theyre huge!!!

Just checking in to say hi and distribute hugs to anyone having a bit of a time of it. I'm having one of those days where if I have a minute, someone or something appears to use it up. On the upside the builders have gone, I'd like to say forever, but apparently only until September. Still, that's a whole month off

Hello again, I'm back, and now vaguely fretting, as the tiddler is not herself, but that can wait as it really does sound like some of you are having a real time of it.

Good for you Plonky in texting MIL direct. My life improved immeasurably once I cut out the man factor and started emailing my SIL about family stuff rather than relying on the unreliable DH to organise. Put it this way his level of communication once resulted in MIL bringing any number of things for lunch, except bread. What I'd actually said was the only thing I needed was bread. No idea how he managed that, as MIL is a sensible reliable type who isn't prone to radical misinterpretation.

As for the HV ignore, ignore, ignore. If ds wasn't ready to wean he'd be doing a worselet and turning his nose up. If he didn't need big bottles he wouldn't be drinking them. Babies don't have eating disorders, they know how to self regulate. I'm assuming the stupid woman learnt everything she knows from an A5 sized pamphlet and doesn't live in the real world.

As for unhelpful OHs, granted they should know better, but if they don't I guess all anyone can do is talk about things. I'm as guilty as anyone of expecting my DH to pick up on subtle clues, but the reality is he doesn't. He doesn't read faces. It took a stranger to point out to him that the worselet has dimples. Hugs to all though, and vent on here, because being sleep deprived, and run ragged is tough, and we've all been there, and will go there again.

Good luck with the move something, and I'm with you on the clothes. I remember when the newborn sleepsuits were so big I had to roll the sleeves back. Sob.

Right, off to check on the tiddler now. She's just not right - struggling to clear more than 5floz at any feed (and has been for a few days), and she has now been asleep for 3 hours with just a 20 min vaguely awake period for some food. Very unsettling.

Wise words, Worse. Yes I've taken to going direct to the source. It's much more effective. I learnt to do that when it became apparent to me that FIL makes everyone march to the beat of his own drum, and will switch from everyone calmly sitting round reading the paper, to suddenly telling everyone to get ready because we're going out for lunch (whether we like it or not!). FIL and BIL have high functioning asd, and DP has grown up with this so he's very easy going. Me, not so much. MIL can be trusted to give a heads up.

Appantly FIL is panicking because there's going to be 25 people for lunch on Saturday, and he'd been promised a low key day. Ha! On the other hand ds gets to meet is five great aunts and a second cousin even younger than he is.

I feel much better now, having had a fag, a crazy shred workout, three poached eggs, and a spoonful of Nutella. Stupid fucking health visitor. I had a good cry when she left. I've a long way to go on that thick skin. Although I did finally get my book start pack.

Worse does she have a temp? Can you rouse her? If not then Id be tempt to leave her to sleep. She could be having a growth spurt, teething, or simply just feeling more tired than usual. Ds has been like this the last few days, very sleepy and not very hungry. I'm sure its nothing but keeping a close eye.