December 2013 - sleepless nights & lots of cooing

[Stom91]

Our very first Thread :)

What are the recommended amount of naps?

I think a morning one and an afternoon one storm

Ahh thanks tucking.

*st

Frickin I phone!

stom depends on your lO's age but GF recommends for 6-8 weeks 4 hours during the day split into a short morning one (around 9) a longer lunch one of up to 3 hours around 12.30-3 and then a shorter one at about 4pm so they don't get over tired and are ready for being put down at 7pm.

That's the theory but I struggle as frouby mentioned mind also doesn't sleep that well even if in the buggy. Today of course he's snoring away as he slept so bloody little yesterday and I can't get a full feed in him-argh!

God those daytime sleeps sound amazing! So far Hannah has had her morning one in the sling on a dog walk, and I am hoping she'll go down in a cot in half an hour or so, but if she settles for more than an hour I will eat my hat!

I am aiming to follow Gina, as we did (loosely) for DD1, but the naps just seem wildly unrealistic for these early days!

Gosh that's loads. She got up at 8 today had an hour at 1030 and is just drifting off again now... Though I prefer to get her all ready for bed by 10 cos last night She fell asleep at 7 last night had a tiny feed at 9 then slept til 2 then was awake until 5 wide awake playing. Can have her playin t 2am every night lol

If I get her settled at 10 she sleeps til 2/3 then has a bottle and goes staight back to sleep. Til 7ish x

Hannah is in her cot but doesn't seem to be sleeping soundly - she seems to wake every few minutes for a whimper / grumble and then goes back off. I am hoping the whimper/grumbles will get less and less and she'll go into a deep sleep.

Every time I get up to pick her up because she's grumbling she has gone back off by the time I get to her, so hopefully it's just a matter of time. But doesn't make for a relaxing lunch break - she's been doing this for over half an hour!

I tried leaving j in his Moses basket this lunch but gave up after half an hour of rocking and putting his dummy back in and went out with him for a drive. Now I'm stuck feeding him in the car In the carpark of ds's preschool as there's not enough time to go home first.

It's so stressful isn't it?! I took the long drive approach yesterday...

Hannah has actually been in her carry cot for over 2.5hrs today but has definitely not been sleeping all that time, but she has been quiet for most of it, after the initial grumbling. I figure that lying down and "resting" has got to be of some benefit to her, even if she wasn't sleeping!

Actually, it sounds like she's just decided she's got bored of the carrycot so I think it may be feeding time again!

Naps dominate my day... T us getting great at self settling for naps, he did it for all 3 today. But he woke up after 20 mins for 2 of them grr, I'm plodding on and hoping they get longer. But at night he won't do it, cries when I put him in the cot awake whereas in the day he's happy yo babble for a bit then nod off. Not sure if he's overtired, scared of the dark or I just have less patience in the evening

I have no idea on how to do naps and we now 12 weeks! I keep rocking her to sleep, is this really wrong?

If I rock Hannah to sleep she just wakes up and cries when I put her down, so I have more success leaving her in a cot awake and happy(ish), and then cross my fingers that she drifts off!

Not sure what tonight will be like after today's naps - we were more successful than usual so I am now worried she's had too much sleep!

hot my DS is the same, slept better a couple of weeks ago, now he wakes every couple of hours. He still gets colicky,too. Before having him I wouldnt have believed you could survive so long without a longer stretch of a few hours of sleep.

Hot at this age i don't think it's really wrong- they are not quite self soothing yet so my view is that if some rocking/cuddling sometimes is what it takes to get them to sleep then so be it! It is a good idea (according to GF) to put them down awake and let them drift off like Lisb is doing but I have found this only works some of the time- tho I remember with my other DS's that around 3 months I persevered a lot more to get them into good sleeping habits so at some point we will have to tackle that!! I find it hard at night as if I leave Joshua upstairs to try and self settle he cries and wakes up my other DS's so its a bit of a tricky one!

I've put a post in the BF section but was wondering- those of you bf are you cutting out certain things like caffiene? I was wondering if this could affect J and his colic but have googled it and evidence is pretty thin- one article even suggesting it makes no difference. I'm reluctant as I survive on the stuff- a day without a tea or coffee for me would be soooo painful -esp after the night I've had, At present I have a small coffee in the morning and maybe 2-3 teas but no more than that (and i'd have more coffee if i wasn't bf) I have read that milk/dairy and chocolate can also aggrevate/cause colic but not sure I want to start any drastic elimination- it seems a bit extreme!

I'm in such a bad mood. J won't settle, he's in a sling and I'm bloody starving and can't eat my sandwich as he keeps screaming and moving around. FFS. Just f'ing sleep! Anyone else feel like this sometimes. So much for healthy eating. No time to eat well- I might as well grab a snickers

Mum I'm bf and have pretty much stuck to what I did in pregnancy with regards to caffeine. I have decaf coffee but drink maybe 4/5 cups of tea a day. Have no idea whether it does make any difference but with sleep at such a premium these days I don't dare take risks!!
I'm trying to diet at the moment through slimming world so make sure I have bananas and Special K bars in the cupboard to shove in my mouth when LO is sabotaging mealtimes!! Hope you've managed to eat now

Healthy eating sucks! I lost 8lb in my first two weeks of trying to be good, but gained 2lb last week. Arse.

I need to follow your advice dasie and keep lots of bananas in the house - somehow they're more filling and satisfying than other fruit.

mumof how old is Joshua now? Hannah is 10wks now and I do think she has settled more in terms of daytime cheerfulness in the last week, so the only words I can offer is the mn classic of 'this too shall pass'. It is horrible when you can't settle them though, for our own heads' sake, as much as for what they need in sleep terms.

Hope the snickers helped - when babies are tricky I think that junk food is often the only answer!

2nd jabs today, is it ok to say that these Injections have caused my baby to become a complete nutcase? Haha.... It's kinda sweet in a way when she becomes so clingy as usually very independent!

lisb he's 8 weeks so I guess still at that clingy/won't settle stage. Today he wouldn't nap in his Moses cot at all, only in the sling. I tried putting him down after he fell asleep in the sling and he woke a few mins later!

Managed the sandwich in the end tho it was precarious and half of it nearly ended up on his head! I'm not dieting ATM but am trying to eat healthily tho it's hard when I get so ravenous when bf, and tiredness makes me want to reach for coffee and carbs!

dasie that sounds sensible eating the same as when you were pregnant so I'm probably doing alright with my caffiene intake then. Can't wait for my 3 strong cups of coffee a day when I do stop bf- I'm properly addicted!

Oh I forgot to add- he's caught chicken pox off his brother so that might explain the clingyness as well so much for bf protecting him from illness-what a load of bollocks. So far he's been hospitalised with Bronchiolitis and now this!

Oh mumof you are really going through the mill you poor thing. I think you're doing brilliantly coping with it all - I would so have ditched the sandwich in favour of the snickers in your situation! I guess the only positive of him having the pox now is that he won't really be aware of the spots or consciously be able to scratch them, like he would if he was older. Am I clutching at straws with trying to find the positives?!

I definitely think you don't need to be worrying about dieting with all that you have on your plate (scuse the eating related pun!) - I think anything that gets you through these touch times is what you need to have, even if that means chocolate biscuits for breakfast, lunch, dinner and night-time feeding sustinence!

Thanks lisb Joshua doesn't seem too bad but his older brother is covered bless him and a bit off colour. And DH has gone out tonight so I'm left to deal with it all and he usually does the 10.30 feed so I'm going to be knackered tomorrow on my Birthday too!