September 14 babies - bring on the weaning!

[KitKat1985]

New thread for the Sept 14 babies. :)

Lol lilone . I went to put a dirty spoon in the fridge the other day instead of the dishwasher haha!

Top - that article is really interesting, and does sound abut like DD! DH and I often say that we will appreciate her having such a strong personality when she is older!

I found the sugar bowl in the fridge the other day, but that was DH after a couple of very late nights working and also doing a big chunk of the nighttime care for DD so that I could catch up on some much needed sleep!

That's the same article I sent a couple of months ago about ds... Not every single one of the list applies here though....

That website is fab girls, it is my favourite baby dr who wrote my favourite baby book

It is interesting reading. Didn't feel so interesting last night though when J would not sleep I think I've had about 4 hours broken sleep and that's it. Hubby has done 2 night shifts then quick turnaround onto 3 afternoon shifts in the past week and he's full of cold and cough and he hasn't slept hardly at all either. Argh it's just a complete nightmare tbh. I want to do that thing Kitkat suggested - not feeding unless it's been 3 hours since last feed but J gets so hysterical unless I'm stood up holding her. And I am too tired to stand up holding her all night long. Not sure what to do now..... It gets very tense between me and DH at night in these situations. Rubbish.

I think the type of sleep training you use really depends on your child's temperament. What Kitkat is doing sounds amazing, and a bit part of me wants to do it, but I know it would be disastrous. A more effective strategy with her is slow but consistent change. DH and I ended up listing her sleep issues, then prioritised the order in which we will tackle them. Swaddling was the top priority due to the potential safety issues.

Yesterday's attempt at one arm out swaddling was unsuccessful, but less hysterical and traumatic than the first attempt, so I'm hopeful for today! Last night in the wrap that allows some arm movement we had partial success. She went down beautifully at 6.15, fed at 9.30 and 12.30. She then woke hourly until 3 and then would only settle on me, so I've been up since then

Hope you all have lovely things planned for this Sunday. Looks like the weather will be gorgeous here again. Sat out for a drink in a pub garden yesterday for the first time this year

Eugh, sleep is lacking here too. Mix a bad cough with teething and eczema all over his legs and you get a cranky baby who wakes constantly! The last 2 days I've had to wake him at 5.30am as he's just crying and crying and won't settle whether he's fed, rocked, walked etc. But as soon as I wake him he's fine, smiling away. Seems to get stuck in a half sleep. I long for those nights back where he's feeding 6 times but just falling straight back asleep!

Need to crack on with weaning now he's 6 months. He's still getting a bit of puree a day and tried coconut yoghurt yesterday and a bit of brocolli which he at least put to his mouth. Put spaghetti down for him but he just moved it around with his hand, which is fine I know. I looked at some baby led weaning recipes on the little grazers website but they're just so advanced for a non-cook like me!

DD has a bunged up nose. I especially dislike those snot-sucker-outer things so we are just waiting for it to clear.

In the mean time she is spending her nights in the bouncy chair, in the cot next to me.

Keeps her head slightly raised, good for a snotty nose. Allows for easy bouncing resettling without the dummy and without having to sit up in bed when she grumbles. Also means I don't need to swaddle since she likes the snug positioning in the chair.

Double thickness blanket wrapped all the way around the bouncy chair and caught under the legs keeps her warm. Plenty of fluids (ie regular feeds).

That's the plan anyway. I'm hoping a week or two until she's over the worst and we can go back to normal.

Have you ever tried the calpol vapour plug in Fate? It seemed to help Jessica (and my hubby actually too) with stuffed up noses.

a friend swears by the plug in things and by snuffle baby.

Where is the poem? Is it in this thread? Or am I missing it?

Fate I could not live without one of those things; mine has a filter so I never feel a thing but it helps ds massively.

Red, time to come back and post here! I thought about what you said yesterday. Went with a friend to a cafe with soft play area. His baby's due date was two days earlier than mine (very early sept) but mine arrived a lot earlier. His son was crawling and climbing in the soft play area and although the area was completely safe, it was difficult for her to take her eyes off him. Gave me a glimpse of the future. ds is still very baby like. If I leave him somewhere, I expect to find him within inches of where I left him. He sits for a long long time and plays, but does not crawl or move much. To be perfectly honest I am a bit happy about him being baby ish (feeling guilty that I am not keen for his motor skill to develop asap ) , I dread when he starts moving as hour flat is so baby unfriendly I just have to run around after him. At the same time, my hope for losing the rest of extra weight lies with those difficult glorious days!!!!

DD has a cold. All full of snot ( amazing how much they can produce!) still feeding well despite feeling rotten and still her usual smiley self, bless her.
RANT ALERT:
DH on the other hand is seriously testing my patience. There are jobs to be done and all day he has been sat on his lazy arse watching tennis and then football. All whilst I've popped to the shops to pick up a few meds for DD, put two loads of washing on, done some ironing(I hate ironing!!), changed the bed covers, vacuumed upstairs and had a general tidy up. This was after my 10k course that I completed yesterday that has left me with v achy and bruised legs. I reckon he thinks I spend my days just watching DD and doing nothing because that's apparently enough.
We have had words ??

I've got one of those plug in things in the medicine cabinet. But it's not been used for several years so I'm not sure how good it would be. I often think our bedroom would benefit from some form of hydration, humidifier type of thing. Especially in winter when the windows are closed, it feels so dry in the air.

Zana - 10K, well done you! Sorry your DH is being rubbish. We have an 'equal amount of time' rule here. It's not about dividing up housework or child rearing duties, it's about 'if one of us is busy doing something then the other person should be busy doing something else'.

Has anyone got any Mothers Day plans? It will be the first Mothering Sunday for some of you, so super special

I'm off for a spa day with my Mum on Thursday.

Nazly here is the poem. Be warned, it will probably make you sob!

zana. a) 10k wow!! b) I think your dh and mine would get on v well.

Zana - 10k!!! I'm mega impressed!

I'm so sorry for those of you with DHs who are not helpful and/or supportive. I'm so lucky with my DH. He was actually saying today how hard work it is to look after DD "properly" (so not just sticking her in her jumperoo in front of the TV!) and that, other than the commute, it is just as tough as going to work. He strongly believes that (other than breast feeding!) parenting and the care of a child should be equally split between the two parents. His view is that saying parenting is a mothers responsibility is "ridiculous"! Other than DDs emerging separation anxiety, on a practical level, I know that I could go away for a couple of days and DH and DD would both be perfectly fine. Although DH may be on the verge of insanity from sleep deprivation and DD may be wearing a very questionable outfit! Obviously I'm not wanting to do that, but it is very reassuring to know how well DH can look after her if and when he needs to.

Onto less positive news...

The bloody sleep and swaddling disaster We've now been working in this for nearly a week and it has been an unmitigated disaster, undoing all the hard work we've put into sorting out her sleep issues. We had managed to get to her having long naps in the cot and being close to self settling and feeding about 7oz in 3-4 feeds, with maybe a couple more times that she needing dummy reinsertion to settle her. Now we are at half an hour of hysterics for 20 minute naps and waking every 15-30 minutes through the night, only able to settle her with feeding, so up to about 15oz. No chance of self settling, so we are back to back breaking rocking and vigorous bouncing.

So we've decided to go back to swaddling and try again in a couple of weeks time. By then she will be on solids and we are about to go on holiday, so we'd like to be able to be able to sleep a little then. We've discovered that traditional swaddling with the Hana wrap over the top contains Houdini

We are on our way to center parcs, woo!

Lovely husband you have there Team

I know people who have swaddled for ages, like 10 or 12 months. I know you want to stop, which is fine, I was just saying though that you don't have to.

Swaddling is like marmite. Some babies really, really love it. Some babies really, really hate it. My DC1 loved swaddling until about 12 weeks then hated it. DC2 was swaddled for about 3 weeks. DC3 hated it from birth, DC4 is loving her swaddle. Your baby evidently really, really loves it. If it was me, I'd just go with it.

In terms of potential danger of rolling, well babies sleeping on their front is generally considered dangerous but I recall on this thread we have quite a few babies being put to sleep on their front or side - all have been fine. What about getting one of those angelcare monitors if you are worried?

What I do (DD is swaddled sometimes) is use an additional sheet over the top of the swaddled baby and tucked in tight. This makes it difficult for her to turn over (and I've also found it useful for transitioning out of the swaddle, since it is tight and secure).

I also have DD sleeping right next to me in a bedside cot and wake whenever she moves, so I'd know if she had rolled over.

Have a great time lilone!

I hate and disagree with any solutions that may involve crying out approach for babies; yet I am sitting here in the nursery reception and he has been crying for the past 30minutes, non stop. Crying pretty badly, no time left to breath... He will run out of energy soon... I am heart broken and about to sob myself...

Oh Nazly, that sounds horrid. I wish I had something helpful to add, but I just wanted to give you a bit of support. It is times like this that I think it is great that we have no memory of being babies! X

Lilone, have a really fantastic time!

Fate, she's so still when swaddled I'm not really too worried. More worried because lots of recommendations are to stop when they start rolling. I think I'll keep trying un swaddled once a week, just in case she naturally stops punching herself in the face, but other than that I'll keep going until she starts really squirming in the swaddling!

Oh Nazly, that is horrible. It is torture listening to any baby cry, but completely unbearable for me to listen to my own child sobbing. I am so sorry you are having to go through this, it makes me want to cry for you

Are you there with him trying to console him? Or are the staff trying to?

Is there any possibility that your husband could have an hour or two off work for a few days and see how your DS is with Daddy dropping him off at nursery instead?

oh nazly hope he settles eventually. you poor thing. I also think it might be a good idea to see if dh can take him in?

lil have a great time, we are off to centre parcs in august can't wait. never been before.

b has taken to sleeping on his front. angelcare went off last night - he had moved himself right into the top of his cot....