October 2014 // thread 6 // baby's new year resolution is to sleep more?!

[sazzlehopes]

Thanks, yellow, very helpful answer. You must have the patience of a saint to keep answering all these questions.

Ds's nose doesn't even run, but gets increasingly blocked through the night. Paed this week recommended increasing the humidity in the bedroom and tilting the sleeping surface. Weirdly he breathes fine until he starts to wake and I think it often prevents him resettling himself, particularly towards the end of the night, and we get an unnecessary second wake up at 5am or so.

I'm ok with limiting my dairy intake to Christmas cake (will be finished this week anyway) and then the weekly Indian. I haven't missed cheese much, surprisingly, but making a fuss when other people are cooking for me just seems a bit neurotic when I can't say that it's definitely having an effect.

I got 4 hours then 4 and a half hours last night. Feel like a new woman. Turns out that it's not hunger waking her up, she just wants comfort. Might be due to constant change in where we're sleeping at the moment, might be due to her cold.

My boyfriend has ulcerative colitis and a dairy allergy, I was expecting the worst for the child, but so far all fine.

Urgh what a terrible night. n woke every hour/2hours. Sometimes the dummy and holding his hand would settle him but generally he wanted more food?! My poor savaged boobs this morning!
Thanks for your advice yellow he defo isn't in pain, very happy and content and like Lebkuchen says... He has a large stork mark and some dry skin on his forehead. He does snuffle on his back and splutter and only sleeps well in the sling or on his front. I feel I want to keep going with the dairy reintroduction just so when it comes to weaning I have no issues but if also like sleep too.
Oh god it's such a hard one isn't it?!!!

Something unrelated to cmpi now: are you doing an early bedtime and dream feed then, yellow? Lil is also exclusively boob-fed, isn't she? My one attempt at a dream feed was unsuccessful (couldn't wake him enough to feed), so I've gone back to cluster-feeding and aiming for 10pm bedtime.

Just realised he went over 6 hours between feeds last night! He woke up when we put him to bed, but I didn't feed him and just left him to drift off on his own. He woke me at 3 with rapid breathing, which is usually a feeding cue for him, but I decided to wait for actual hand-sucking and next thing I knew it was 3.50.

Oh im so incredibly envious of you all, even when babymoose was sleeping better 1030 was the earliest he ever went down. No idea how to get him to sleep at 8, it would be so nice to not be feeding/fighting from 7-11, but tbh id kill to get my 11-3 and 430-8 back at the moment!
Swimming was really nice this morning :) altho he screamed his way through getting dry and changed!

My little one had a good nite aswell 11 till 4 then half 4 to 8 but she's not doing her usual naps & is really unsettled during the day since her jags? But only 2 days until next leap so i maybe thats why ? Who knows ?

I think i will be weaning at 4 months? she is tanking an 8 ounce bottle every 3 and a half hours, the bottle only goes up to 9 ounces ??? So if at 12 weeks she's taking 8 what will she be taking at 6 months? I weaned her sister at 4 months due to this aswell, she was taking 9 ounce and looking for more at 16 weeks, my hv was ok with this but tbh i think I'll make my own descions this time without running to hv to ok things.

Moose - even if we went to bed at 8, she'd not sleep until 10.30! She doesn't mind a nap at 7.30, but definitely wakes up by 8.30. We're just going to keep trying to elongate that nap until it reaches 10.

Lol i just lie in bed with him on the boob from 7 til 10 when we start trying to get him to sleep

Lebkuchen it's like you are writing my posts! We have an often unecessary second wake up around 5ish... Have you tried an air filter? We use it sometimes when ds1 has a cold...makes a huge difference to him waking up snot free. We've been using it in our room occasionally when normally we'd just have the window open. It helps a bit with the snuffle and provides the extra bonus of some white noise too!
I'm thinking anything is worth sleep so I'm tempted to cut out all dairy again. It's not so bad, I've found plenty to replace. All I really miss is buttery toast and a great coffee. Almond milk in tea is fine, but sucks as an attempted latte! I really hate this half hearted effort of limited dairy especially after the night I've just had. After all my no mucous poos the two this morning had a fair bit of mucous in so I'm thinking it's worth giving it up again...
He's also developed patches of psoriasis round the back of his head. Is this related to dairy? I know its psoriasis not eczema as my dad and brother suffer badly from both. My dad is on a mild anti cancer drug to keep his at bay and my brothers was so bad at uni once he was hospitalised with it

I'm so sorry for all my me me me posts. Im having a bad and tired doubting day. I think I just need to make a decision and stick with it....

We're still cuddling on the sofa and feeding from 8-9, she snoozes on us until we go to bed when I wake her with nappy change, reflux meds, into ergo cocoon with her arms out at 11 then a feed to sleep, I hold her up for half an hour after because of reflux and then she's down for the night in the bed nest. had to wake her this morning for reflux meds and a feed and then popped her back into the crib. At 9.30 I woke her. I do think if I could put her to bed at 9 but would need to wake her for meds at 11. Hmmm might try to move meds to 10 as we need an earlier wake up to sync with the toddler.

I'm getting H to bed about 7.30ish just now (was previously 11-midnight but she started waking every two hours from 13 weeks so taking sleep regression advice by putting her to bed earlier.) She now does 5-6ish hours in her first stretch then a couple of 3 hour gaps til getting up time, so 3 wakeups now for me in comparison to the previous 1 Is there anything else I should be doing with this regression or is it just a time thing? Feeding every 2 hours during the day and some of them are 6-week clusterfeed-style fussy so she's having a growth spurt (her head/face seems bigger!) as well as allegedly being in the fourth Wonder Week leap.

moose we are no where near a bedtime near 7 or 8. He might snooze then but like goats wakes after an hour ready to play!
I'm happy enough him going to bed later and would love at the moment to get a 3 hour stretch at night. His pattern is wake at 1/2am then 3/4am then often 5 and 6 too....
But last night it was wake at 11, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 for feeding and or comfort...

Sazzle is it a snotty nose or could it be refluxed milk up his nose? It sounds daft but when Jonas was comfort feeding that happened quite a bit as his tummy was so full it often came back up. Have you raised the crib head maybe? Skin issues can be CMPI I'm not that familiar with them as J just got occasional eczema and contact rashes after exposure but it was very few and far between as I'm super strict except when doing an allergy challenge at the hospital. There's some good CMPI Facebook groups if you post a pic on the ladies will be able to say. As for cutting it out totally - its very personal. For me sleep wins over food every time.

splendide: Re mix feeding

I have been mix feeding since 12 weeks (DD is 15 weeks and 15lb 8oz now). I don't know how precious you are about breastfeeding/breastmilk so you may want to do it differently to me? I am absolutely not precious at all about breastmilk. I would be happy if DD gets all of her nourishment from formula.

But I be keep up breastfeeding just for pleasure. I put DD to the breast often after bottle feeds. Or when she has a full tummy and is tired. Or when she is upset and needs comfort. Or sometimes just for the hell of it while we are having a cuddle.

None of this breastfeeding is about feeding her. It's about keeping the habit and having a 'special cuddle'. I expect to be able to continue breastfeeding her into her second year this way. But with the removed pressure of nourishment from milk. Maybe once she is weaned, she will go back to getting all her milk from the breast? Maybe she won't, I'm not precious about it.

I make up six or seven 6oz (180ml) bottles a day and feed her 2 to 2 1/2 hourly through the daytime. She rarely finished the whole bottle. She is breastfed too, but I work on the assumption she will get all her nourishment from formula and will breastfeed for pleasure only.

Do you know? That actually sounds lovely. I'm just now at the point where my anxiety about his weight is unmanageable so maybe I should just really up the firmula and keep bf for the cuddles.

Absolutely the best parenting decision I ever made. The best of both worlds by a country mile.

You have to establish breastfeeding exclusively first for this to work properly - but you have done by now. So this kind of mixed feeding can easily carry on long term.

All the benefits of formula (in my view more benefits to formula than breastfeeding, but for the benefit of those exclusively breastfeeding here I will not list them) with all the bonding and closeness of breastfeeding.

Splendide you've established BF well - upping formula now won't mean the end of BF unless you or baby wants it to. I think your baby is unlikely to reject the breast now, particularly if you view BF as Fate suggests for cuddles. Whilst some babies might reject the boob for the bottle for feeding alone (as it is easier) virtually all love the boob for cuddles. The best of both is a good way of viewing it.

I know I wish mine would take bottles especially when I get to the 4-5 month stage and I've not had more than half an hour away from them it can be claustrophobic! Once they're onto solids its easier to get time away even from bottle avoiders.

Thanks guys I'm beginning to feel like this just is the right thing for us. I think i just need to take the decision and stop agonising. Having him weighed brings on mega panic at this point. Plus the poor bugger is having to spend hours and hours getting scant nutrition from my poor rubbish boobs.

Never call your boobs (or any part of you) rubbish. Your boobs are great

Splendide, I have secretly thought for a while that you will be a zillion times better when you make the decision to up formula. But wanted to be supportive of your feeding choices so didn't say anything. You and baby will feel so much better when you make and accept the decision.

Why would a baby rub her eye? Just the one, which doesn't look annoying/itchy etc until AFTER she's rubbed it. She does it even if she's just woken up, and at various other times, so it's not about tiredness.

We think she has a tooth coming in - I didn't want to believe that from a nipple point of view, but it's definitely hard white lumps - could that make her rub her eye?

goats my lo is constantly rubbing her ear, i know thats a sign of teething? But no other teething signs, i think it might just be a habit thing ? Put some Vaseline on it incase its itchy ?

E had a red ear earlier and I think she's starting to teethe. We've got one of those gel rings that goes in the fridge.
Splendide you've done so well so far, if baby needs extra formula doesn't make you're boobs rubbish. Let us know how you both get on.
Gave her a bottle of formula after bath time to see how she got on... After 1/2 hour of settling she's been asleep since 7.30!! This is amazing Won't give it every night but it's another "thing" that might get her to sleep

One of DD eyelids has on-and-off been red and sore since birth. I'm not really sure what causes it.

fate same here, i put a tiny wipe of Breast milk on it which seems to settle it down again