January 2014 babies - The Teething Twilight Zone

[beccajoh]

New thread!

I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist, but Diane leaving seems just a bit too convenient to me...

Help. I have a phone consultation with a sleep consultant tomorrow pm. DH thinks we know what to do and should try harder before shelling out hundreds with this woman. He is right, we haven't actually tried properly and I think I know roughly what to do, but the sleep consultant would be a bit of a security blanket. Plus, she's really hard to get in with and I hate the thought of pressing on and then needing her later but her being too busy. I can have a one-off consultation with her, a three week package or a six week package. I'm thinking maybe a one-off and see how we go. What do you all think? My brain is no longer able to make decisions and DH says it is up to me.

Book, given your sleep situation I doubt you'd be able to change things now by yourself. Habit has set in, and I reckon it would be too hard to stick to doing something on your own because you'll eventually just give in and go back to being used as a dummy all night. I know this because it's what I do, despite knowing what I should do.

I reckon go for the full package. That way you can't say you didn't give it a try. And just imagine if it works!

Sorry! That sounded super negative. I didn't mean it to. But at almost 8 months, P's bad habits are going to be hard to break. Plus there's the reflux issue, which means that the usual 'amateur' approaches might not be right.

Book - we have just finished our 4 session package and it took that lon to get Emily to go through the night (using 'more gentle' techniques) and I don't think we had it as bad as it seems like you had. A one off session will just be her talking at you and telling you what to try, but you'll probably have a million questions and want to go back with them once you have tried to implement them. I would say go for at least the middle package if not the full one. Plus what Toby said about habits etc - it's going to be harder to change.

Also without meaning to be rude, from what you've said your OH is really preaching from his ivory tower and isn't actually doing anything on the sleep front so sod him, do what you want (actually after so little sleep for so long NEED) to do for your own sanity!

I am taking full advantage of the Australian medical system and seeing a dietician to make me less fat (I think not eatin chocolate every day might make me less fat but it's been so long I don't know what to replace it with [grins] ) But they've sent me for blood tests so I am sat in the middle of a 2 hour GTT test. Blah. I thought only pregnant people had to drink the dreaded gel. Bleurgh. DH is looking after Emily though so am taking full advantage of reading time just me and my kindle ... It's so quiet!!

Urgh sunshine, I was only thinking the other day that the GTT was one of the worst things about being pregnant. I hope it went okay.

Thanks for the advice toby and sunshine, I'm going for the full package. Helpfully, P has just had her worst night ever, although I suspect this is related to me getting halfway though a meal with pesto in it yesterday before realising it contained dairy. I feel awfully guilty the poor thing woke at 10 for 2 hours of screaming, then refused to settle properly at all and is now asleep face down on me while I sit up. I can't believe we slept like this for three months at the start, it is so uncomfortable! DH took her downstairs for an hour and was a bit surprised I think. It was my first real slip up, so I don't know how long she'll be like this

I kind of wish I'd tried a sleep consultant with DD. She was a horror for night wakings, although we did get it sorted in the end, but only about four months ago when she was 22 months. You can read umpteen theories on what you're supposed to be doing, but when you're so sleep deprived it's hard enough deciding which knickers to wear in the morning, let alone trying to to figure out how to get your child to sleep. I didn't go back to work so didn't have that deadline as such. I think if I had I would have tried to sort the sleep situation out much sooner. I think it's reasonable to expect some night waking at 7-8 months, but relentless waking for feeds or needing to be re-settled is OTT. No one is getting a good night's sleep including the baby! I know people say it's normal for babies to wake at night (and it is) but parents are important too! Your own health and well being suffers when your sleep is SO badly disrupted. If your DH doesn't want to spend the money then he definitely needs to help get the sleeping sorted!

We had an interesting night. Not good but not bad as such. We decided not to give Archie his dream feed because it makes no bloody difference to night wakings. He had milk before bed (6.45pm) then slept until about 1.30am. From then on we were up every hour or so putting his dummy in. We'd have fed him if he didn't settle obviously. He had milk then did a giant poo at 6am. Not sure why he can sleep perfectly well the first half of the night but not the second. Does make me think we need to pursue getting rid of the dummy.

book I think you made the right decision going for the full package. Even if you crack it straight away it'll be reassuring to have her there if needed

becca that's like our nights. Henry doesn't even always have a bed time bottle and it makes no difference. I only gave water for the first time last night which he was happy enough with so hoping hell realise no point in waking up

becca you definitely need to go cold turkey in the dummy, that's why Archie is waking the whole time. Dummies are great for the first twelve weeks but as soon as there is a genuine dependency then it makes life really tough. I cannot preach as ds1 had a dummy until 11 months, but I knew then that he looked ridiculous with one in his mouth (and I used it day time to get him to sleep as well as at night). A friend of mine here has just gone cold turkey on her 18 m old and she said three nights of hell, followed by two bad nights and then, bingo, slept right through consistently. Weaning my ds1 at 11 months was easier, nothing hellish, and he soon forgot about it. The earlier the better IMO. You are giving your baby a gift by allowing them to learn the skills to sleep all night on their own, and to settle themselves when they come into light sleep without any aids. That's the theory anyhow!

Well, Lucy update, I took her back to gp on Monday as she was steadily declining. And turns out she had ear, throat and lung infection and was heading to a sure pneumonia. Got her straight onto antibiotics and paracetamol suppositories (best thing ever, as she spits calpol out but I did feel a bit unsure pushing it up her bottom) and more steroids. Has taken the rest of this week, but she is now 99% back to normal. I have also changed their nursery following a dispute over the way the baby room was being run, and their new place is much quieter, calmer, very happy children, soft play room for the older children which is just magic, and an entire sleep room full of cots, blinds that come down to make it dark, and soft music to coax them to sleep. It has been a complete stress but fingers x I get to do a full weeks uninterrupted work next week.

Ps book I agree with the others. Go for it and get the full service. You won't regret it!

Oh mythree poor Lucy and poor you. I'm so glad she's getting better. That must have been horrible. I have to say that I qute like the sound of the new nursery for myself though!

with regards to dummies - DS1 had a dummy until about 16 months, we just didn't give it to him at night time and he didn't ask for it. We didn't have any hellish behaviour, he just decided he didn't want it.

We're gonna hang onto the dummy with Henry for as long as he wants it, but he doesn't wake up in the night for it. So he's not all that fussed. He uses it to get to sleep initially and then doesn't seem to care. So we're very lucky.

mythree poor Lucy! I'm glad she's feeling better

Poor Lucy! Hope she's better soon. Must have been feeling rotten!

Yes we do need to ditch the dummy. I'm not sure when we started using it quite so often?! He self settled at birth and in the early weeks, but I think the dummy calmed him down when his silent reflux was causing issues (it's well-controlled now) so it has become a habit. He doesn't often have it during the day, mostly just for sleeps.

I'm going for a hair cut this afternoon! Been six months or more since the last one.

Why oh why do hairdressers dry my hair into a mushroom shape??? It'll be fine once I've washed it and dried it myself, just a bit poofy right now! I had loads cut off, about 6 inches, into a bob. I like my hair a bit longer but it was really straggly and peeing me off. Archie kept grabbing handfuls which is mega OUCH! They had massage chairs to sit in whilst they wash your hair. Lovely

becca I wish my hairdresser had left mine like a mushroom. She has cut so much out of mine that it's really thin and no volume at all. I just wanted to feel good going back to work and I hate my haircut so much I feel like a tit

Back from my holiday and just quickly skimmed through a weeks worth of posts!

We have had a massive miracle here in the sleep department. After 4 whole months of hourly wake ups, S has been sleeping so well for a whole week. Mostly waking up twice - around 2am and 6am, but a couple of times has slept right through until around 5 I've literally done nothing different, it's just happened. I was expecting it to be worse as she was sleeping in a new place and in the travel cot. Hopefully it will continue tonight at home!

Welcome back MrsG and enormouse

Toby glad your dd is ok. ExH gf sounds like an arse!

Mythree what a stressful time!! Glad DH returned and fed you wine hope Lucy makes a speedy recovery, how scary

Million enjoy your holiday. Fx DH's passport arrives. If not, I hope you still have a wonderful time.

Book I would go for the sleep consultant. If we could afford it I would have jumped at the chance. I definitely think it will be worth it as they should identify problems and devise a plan that will work for you, rather than you doing trial and error with different things which I think would be very stressful!

Sorry if I've missed anyone!

That's brilliant Felix!

mythree how scary, glad she's in the mend.

How do you go cold turkey with the dummy? Literally one day just not give it to them? Henry uses it when he's tired and whingey but not apart from that. I don't think he'd settle eithout it, unless he had a bottle instead

felix that's great news! Woo sylvie!

My three glad to hear Lucy is getting better now, really glad the GP caught it when they did. Hope you are ok too, must have been very worrying.

Felix that is brilliant, now if she could just whisper in M's ear and persuade him to do the same I would be very grateful!

Book no point doing things by halves, going for the full package sounds like the best option.

Been to a lovely urban farm today. Dd1 and dd2 had a ride on a pony and stroked a giant tortoise.

Great news Felix. Hope it's not just a one off!

Archie did 7pm - 4.45am last night but needed his dummy going in every 15 mins from then on. We changed his nappy and gave him 4oz of milk at 6am. He's just nodded off again whilst watching postman pat. I think perhaps tomorrow if he wakes up that early again we might do milk/nappy straight away and hopefully we can all go back to sleep, rather than being awake silly-early.

Poor Lucy! Glad she's on the mend.

Leah has mastered the stairs so we need to buy some stairgates! She slept really badly last night, DH was amazing and took her downstairs 1-7am. I'm going to try giving water again tonight, last time we tried it she wasn't impressed but she's eating quite a lot and having feeds during the day so fx!

mrsg Im persevering with the water at night too. Yesterday he only had 2 bottles in the day (can sometimes be up to 6!) but only woke up once and water settled him so I think we can be confident the food is filling him up enough that he doesn't need milk in the night. He also wasn't keen on water and will still spit it out in the day but I give it out of a bottle at night and it has done the job the last couple of nights

And the no milk at night unless nothing else works has also pretty much solved our leaky nappy overnight problem

4.50am waking seems to be a Thing now. Today it was a giant poo, although once we'd figured out that was the problem he did go back to sleep eventually for some reason (DH hasn't yet figured out that if you check all these things straight away then you can usually go back to sleep quicker!) Then up at 6.40, so not too bad a night really! I feel absolutely shattered today, even though I was fast asleep by 9.15 last night.

I feel your pain becca, waking up for an hour around 3.30 is a thing here. She just starts rolling about and the crawling. Everything on the Internet says it is practice crawling, but she can already roll, crawl and stand, so in her case it isn't. It is getting much harder to settle her as well, and frankly being awake for an hour when she already wakes every hour or two is a bit shit. I have signed up for a six week help package with a sleep consultant, so just have to get through two more weeks of this before we can get cracking.

Anyone else got a baby that looks more like Mr Bump at the moment? She is trying to walk around furniture holding on, and even if I am behind her waiting to catch her she seems to be managing several big bumps a day. She's trying to climb now as well, which doesn't help!

book Leah's woken at 2-3.30ish for an hour most nights this week. How strange!

She's crawling and cruising everywhere too, she had a big red mark on her forehead for a few hours yesterday as DH didn't realise how good she is now and turned his back for a second!