Martians 2014 (and the February early arrivals)

[LyraSilvertongue]

I expect it will be quiet in here for a while with only four Martians born so far and it not even being March yet

Those who have popped so far:
Coolhand
Dabarai
LyraSilvertongue
Wuxiapian

Our routine evolved around DD's feeding pattern. Since switching to formula she gets a "split feed" (a normal sized feed split in two) at 5pm and 7pm. I bath her, or give her a massage at 6/6.30 and then do the 7pm feed in the bedroom with the lights down low before putting her in her cot. She'll then usually sleep till I go to bed at 10pm when I give her another normal sized feed and put her back down again.

We've been very lucky in that DD likes her sleep, and she also likes having the extra space of the cot to throw her arms and legs around - I think she found the Moses basket too small!

Forgot to add that it's probably best if you try to keep the routine pretty similar every night if you can. If your OHs work patterns interfere can you move the routine forward/back by an hour so that things don't clash?

I'm not sure routine is quite the right word, but a pattern has emerged where he tends to have a feed around 4-5 ish and then I try to persuade him to wait until at least 6pm to feed again (at that time of day he tends to be grizzly and wanting to graze). Then I do a bit of massage, a bath and feed, all upstairs - during the day he's always downstairs. I do the feed with the light dimmed.
I have always tried to make a clear difference between day and night by keeping him upstairs at night and keeping the light low when feeding at night. Also he wears a sleeping bag at night. But he has always slept fairly well so it may be that none of this makes much difference! He does seem to enjoy the bath though: even if he's grumpy, he seems to relax once he's in the bath.

Good luck to those with jabs coming up - DS was OK with his, he was quite bright on the way home then had a long nap. Me and DH thought we had got away with it... He woke up screaming from his nap - he'd never done that before!! We were running round the house trying to get the calpol and read the instructions for safe dosage. I finally got the right amount in the syringe and squirted the lot in his mouth by mistake... He was so surprised he swallowed it and stopped crying
He fell asleep again and was absolutely fine afterwards! I think we were more traumatised!
People have said that they felt the vaccinations changed feeding/ sleeping patterns but we ended up being a week late (9 weeks rather than 8) and we noticed a difference in his behaviour at 8 weeks before the jabs so it probably just coincides with a development jump.

We have a really nice evening pattern: one boob at 5pm and no more sleep, bath at 6:30 followed by the other boob and then tucked into bed in a sleeping bag. We are lucky that both me and DH are home at this time so we both do the bath. Before bath we close the blinds and put on the small lamps in our room, we dry and dress him together, DH leaves turning out one lamp and then I feed him. I put him into his sleeping bag and turn out the second light. Sometimes he's asleep but if not he will self settle within 10mins so we feel pretty lucky about that!
He wakes up twice after that 10pm/11pm and 4am ish. Now that its predictable its quite manageable :)

I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts as I've been reading about the deadly 4month regression that will change everything - only a few weeks until then!

I start C's bedtime routine between 7 and 8, we try and time it so it's around four hours after her last feed or she isn't really hungry. I bath her, massage and then take her into our room (lights off) where I put her in her sleeping bag, feed her and put her in her Moses with her dummy and music on. She generally goes through to anywhere between 5 and 7 - also not l

Oops! Also not looking forward to the sleep regression!

What about nap times? Currently C sleeps whenever, wherever for however long but I don't know if I should be trying to make it more structured now? I do try and get her asleep before she becomes overtired but apart from that it's completely led by her at the moment which I don't really mind.

We don't have set nap times but I do try to get her to nap if she's been up fore more than an hour and a half/two hours. If I catch her in time she'll happily nod off in her bouncy chair for anything between 30 and 90 mins but if I miss her cues she will cry and fight when I put her down and then takes about 20/30 mins to settle. She normally has her longest nap in the afternoon, but if we go out in the car that usually sends her to sleep too!

Sounds like everyone has a good evening routine :)

We have a morning, lunchtime and afternoon nap. The times of these are led by DS - totally agree with Frankel that if I can catch him at the first yawn, he's asleep in seconds, if I miss it he starts to grumble and I have to settle him.

Frankel - what kind of cues do you mean? I'm not sure I get much until he starts crying, but maybe I'm missing it. I normally have to take him out in the pram to get him to nap, which I enjoy most of the time, but it's not ideal when pouring with rain like today!

E's cues are that she will start bringing her hands up to her face, as if she wants to rub her eyes, she yawns and also starts to grizzle. If she's been active before hand, say on the activity mat, she will often go quiet and still and stare into space. If I catch her at the right time she'll fall asleep within a minute or two of being put down.

Imeg Our biggest sleepy cue is less movement, DS spends quite a bit of time on his play mat and flaps his arms and legs around constantly. When this slows down I know its nap time! He is still happy and will smile and chatter when I pick him up but is asleep in seconds when I lie him on his nap pillow (formerly feeding cushion!) and give him Sophie Giraffe to hug :)

Hmm, thanks, will keep my eyes open!

Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely bank holiday weather...??!

I'm having a nightmare with DS's talons nails. This has got to be up there with the First Bath in terms of nervous mum with her PFB?!

I dug out the baby proof clippers and went to work... I ended up snipping his fingers AND breaking the clippers He didn't seem too bothered but the guilt!! I broke my baby!!

Haven't been brave enough to do the other hand yet so he still has one set of scratchy claws....

Have to confess, I got my sister to do DS's!!! But nearly every mum I know seems to have done this at some point - you'll likely get much sympathy from any mum/baby groups you attend... Not looking forward to having to do it myself, might just offer to hire my sister on a regular basis, lol!

I've got some nail scissors, I find them easier than clippers. It's also a bit easier to do it after bathtune because the nails soften a bit. Nightmare though, I've never felt that kind of pressure before!

I bite DD's nails, it's far easier! She is very scratchy and often has marks on her face

Agree with Frankel, I too bite Jacks nails they are so soft anyway its easier - I tried with clippers but was too worried I would hurt him!

Evening Ladies, I don't know who is on facebook but i thought i would share this link www.facebook.com/lovekeepcreate its a lovely idea and something i will do once he has grown out of his baby clothing, the website is lovekeepcreate.co.uk/

It's a lovely idea - a bit expensive for me though so I might get the sewing machine out and do a patchwork blanket myself with clothes that aren't being passed on to other people. The animals would be a bit beyond my limited sewing skills...

That's a lovely idea Jacks! I have been packing away the outgrown things as we go and it makes me broody! DS was small and in Tiny Baby size and I can't believe now that he ever fit in them he's now such a chunk I'll wait and see how we go with no2 and then will definitely be making something like that.

Are many of you getting together with other mums? I popped into work yesterday and a friend seemed surprised/concerned that I wasn't going to any groups or made any mum friends! My DH has joined me on a long paternity leave and so we are happily enjoying our baby bubble and I haven't felt the need to go looking for company. We're in Surrey so there is no end to the baby groups and meet ups so maybe I should try and get out there?!

Both lovely ideas. C has pretty much grown out of all her newborn sizes finally (and people told us not to buy any!) so it'd be nice to have some sort of keepsake.

Jab day today, eek!

DP has only been back a couple of weeks s

Oops! DP has only been back at work a couple of weeks so I haven't ventured to anything for mummies yet either. I am starting to feel a little bit stir crazy though so I think I'll explore what's on offer next week.

Comms we have our second set of jabs this afternoon! Eek!

Good luck!