October 2014.. Thread 7.. Teeth, tantrums & tickles

[STIGZ]

Hope this works ?

fate I know all of this. As a second time mum with a terrible sleeper the first time I know first hand that formula or weaning or crawling or any old sh*t makes not a bit of difference to how they sleep. In fact if you read back you'll see I swore blind I wasn't going to wean until 6 months because a) it's a bloody faff and hassle and b) I know it won't help sleep.
HOWEVER I haven't slept properly for 5 months. He has woken every 2 hours to feed, no shhhing no dummy no rocking no leaving NOTHING will make that boy sleep. I'd love to be able to use formula to help me get a break and have DH take the slack for a bit but I can't as he's allergic and I'm still waiting for an appointment to see someone about it all.
Now if, IF for some reason he is a little hungry and the rice does help a bit I think at 23 weeks in not breaking the guildelines that much...
But when I whinging in a few weeks time that I'm still not getting any sleep and weaning is annoying feel free to say I told you so! (I will be saying it to myself and also trying to kick myself too!)

www.eatstudy.co.uk/ www.eatstudy.co.uk/

www.leapstudy.com/leap-study-results

As one who has introduced food early (coincidence maybe but something has helped his silent reflux) I thought Id post these links in case they are of interest.

I was hoping to wait till 6 months as i really do find weaning a faff! Plus I'm so paranoid about choking as my brother nearly choked to death when he was younger which has scarred me for life but unfortunatly her reflux is getting worse the more milk she is drinking, so hopefully im doing whats right for her and dont damage her for life because i havnt followed the "proper" guidlines.

Just about to read your link polka

Morning all. I have no plans on weaning baby properly for another month, however she really enjoyed playing with the spoon and touching the rice so I see no problem with giving it now and then. I'll hold off with the chicken and roast potatoes for a bit
My baby is growing up so fast so I don't want to lose our milk cuddles yet.

I too am enjoying milky cuddles EVERY TWO HOURS All day and all night!!!!

I've suddenly got the weaning fear. We're a good month or so off yet but oh God oh God what if I get it wrong and she ends up with arteries the size of tree roots. Oh God. I'm reading a book about it now and I think this was a mistake as in fact it tells me to do things I probably would have done anyway but now the book has told me I'm convinced I'll balls it up and somewhere between the stove and her mouth everything will magically become MacDonalds. It feels a bit like when I was pregnant and suddenly got obsessed by my diet even though objectively I know we eat pretty healthily- we cook from scratch and eat a lot of vegetables and lentils and similar. BUT STILL. It doesn't help that DP is a lovely and sensible man in many ways but in other ways he's like a four year old and I'm sure he'll try to slip her stuff when I'm not looking.

sazzle me too. Also she now spend half the time sticking her fingers up my nose and then unlatching to giggle about how clever she is which gets progressively less cute the closer it is to 4 am.

We get little fingers in her mouth during feeding which doesn't help. Then she'll get distracted by a noise, or a shadow, of the cat then OUCH there goes my nipple!!
Tatty I haven't had a McDonalds in ages, now I'm hungry Your DP sounds like mine- "I thought she could eat an onion bhaji by now...?"

I sympathise sazzles. Just had a shocker of a night. There needs to be a new word for that particular type of rage you feel when the baby wakes and you look at the clock and it's only been an hour since you last did the round of milk shush please please sleep. Christ. She's currently napping in the pram and I'm hiding on the couch with dd1 watching Fantasia on dvd.

Will be keen to hear how the refluxers get on with some solids. Dd2 is just 18 weeks and doesn't feel anywhere near solids just yet but i am hoping that solid food will eventually help her to keep milk down! Her sister started around 22/3 weeks I think and was an utter dream to wean. It was a huge mess but very easy. We did 2 meals as finger food and some stews, porridge etc by spoon. Solids did make a difference to her sleep, although it could just have been her getting older.

I doubt we'll wait the full 26 weeks with dd2; anecdotally, every ebf baby I know that waited that long was too addicted to Magic Boobie by then to be much into food til well past a year. But we'll see. If dd2 has no interest we'll maybe hold off. Dd1 was sitting up and stealing food by 5 months exactly.

I might brave the library with both dds today. It's blowing a game out but I'll go mad on this little sleep if stuck inside all day.

Hey, don't worry about weaning... my cousin is feeding her 6 month old baby slightly burnt bits of hot cross bun with marmalade and butter on it, and yesterday an otherwise sensible friend told me that her not-yet-6-month-old had a piece of pizza for dinner the night before. You can't do it as badly as those people!

We've finally had a couple of nights with better sleep - not GOOD sleep, just better. I can't believe I'm really happy about her sleeping from 11 - 2am when a month ago it was 7 - 3am. Grr. But I feel a bit better - think it was just in time, on Wednesday I was actually getting to the point when speaking was just too much effort. We've given up trying to keep her in bed, which I know is just BAD. But really, put her down at 7... then spend 3 hours in and out trying to calm her down/keep her in bed - which means I basically spend every evening sitting in a dark room on my own. Instead we've put her down to bed at 7, tried twice to keep her there, then given up and brought her into the living room, where she sleeps happily on one of us until 11.

Bad parent alert. But we're going away this weekend, so it'll all go to shit anyway.

Meant to say Twisted I'm so sorry about your daughter's hearing loss. It must have been a blow to get that news. So great that it's caught early and I'm sure she'll be in the best hands.

Sorry to hear that twisted as others have said it's good that you can get on with dealing with it but it must have been hard for you x

Hope this doesn't seem insensitive but I think a few people have mentioned getting an ikea cot and using it as a co-sleeper. Was it the £35 one and was it easy to do (any photos?!) I just realised I need to send bednest back, I want to keep him beside me a while longer.

God goats my choking sensors would blow up

I just gave her banana porridge, i couldnt get it in her mouth fast enough! She loved it

sazzle hopefully weaning will make some difference to his sleep if its hunger preventing him sleeping long stretches? You must be exhausted, such a shame you cant use formula to give you a break either

I used a 35 quid crib from mothercare as a co sleeper. I'll try and attach a picture. Apologies for state of bedroom! I just hack sawed one of the sides off.

Hey all.

Bad night here too. I was meant to be getting my hair cut today but I've cancelled it and I'll sleep instead while my mum looks after the boy.

I'm really down and weepy again. Just seem to be on a cycle of feeling better a bit then crashing. It's exhausting and it's boring for everyone around me. NCT group all seem to have babies that sleep really well, I'm doing something wrong I guess but don't know what.

splendide you're not doing anything wrong. I'm not, and my baby doesn't sleep either. My first didn't and I'm pretty sure I wasn't doing anything 'wrong' then. Even waited til the magic 6 months to wean and nothing made a difference. If it's any consolation he is 4 and has slept very well from about 18 months onwards.... In fact I was pretty sure I was due a 'good sleeper' as my first was so bad but it appears not.
Rest, feel better and tackle tonight a bit fresher.

tatty munday fingers up noses and mouths sound delightful! I have to hold my LO hands down when feeding because all he does is attack and scratch the life out of his eczema on his head poor mite. It's so bad it makes me want to cry to see him distressed by it.

stigz and greenstone thanks I'm pretty broken. It's gone on so long now it's almost normal...we have had no regression, as he's been this bad from day one!

goats I'm thinking rock cakes and spare ribs for dinner...I mean he can hold stuff ok and chew so ribs are probably the best thing right?!

I think a few people have mentioned getting an ikea cot and using it as a co-sleeper

Any cot that is flat pack, just don't attach one side. That way you are not hacksawing and ruining a cot.

We have a John Lewis Dropside Cot Bed. We've just removed and saved the dropside-side.

Actually now she's rolling I am having massive difficulty keeping her in the cot so may have to trial putting the fourth side back on the cot. Because it's dropside, I can have a period of time (before she's pulling herself up) with the side closest to the bed lowered as a transition into proper cot.

Yeah if you've got space then ikea all the way (argos also have a small cot), we didn't have the space for it.

splendide. You're not doing anything wrong at all. Like sazzle I was also thought I was due a good sleeper on round 2 but it hasn't been like that, even knowing all the mistakes I made first time around (which weren't even that many, on reflection; realising this has been a revelation). Babies are so tricksy, and I'm guessing maybe not everyone feels able to talk freely about their struggles IRL? So the NOT babies may indeed all sleep well (I'd be surprised if they ALL did but maybe) but they might be giving their parents grief over other stuff now or in the future and making their parents feel like they're getting it all wrong. What I mean is basically you're normal and not alone

Yip splendid echoing what the others have said, anything you are doing will not be "wrong" but will be actually right for what your baby needs, you know best even if it doesn't feel like it!

I have down days too, so you are not alone in that one, just as long as you have more "good days" than down days, hopefully your sleep will help you feel better ?

I'm ok. Just a bit pathetic, I seem to be coping so badly with lack of sleep. I'm frightened Ill get really ill again.

Splendide, I too really really struggle on lack of sleep - just keep roping your mum in for help as much as possible and don't feel guilty about it. It will not be like this forever. Just think, the baby part of rearing a person is actually a tiny fraction of the whole thing. Your little one CAN do good sleep stretches and I bet he will again very soon.

Oh god STIGZ, I soooo too have the fear of choking. Think it cos I do it quite often - I eat very slowly as I bizarrely have a narrow gullet and can't swallow well. I even have to break up neurophen before swallowing.

You know when people talk about giving certain foods like pizza etc - do they mean they blend it up? Or just break into tiny pieces, or just give whole or what? What about stew with meat - is that blended? Awww am so scared to start weaning!

Hi all, sorry to hear about the babies that aren't sleeping it must be so so hard
splendide if you feel like you are getting I'll again I would head straight to gps sooner rather than later.

I've been feeling really really low the last few weeks think that why I've not really posted much, so much so that I'd made an app to see my gp. I've never suffered with depression after any of my babies so it took me by surprise. Anyway to cut a long story short last week suddenly my mood lifted and I felt completely back to normal, very odd until I realised that in coincided with me running out of contraceptive pills the week before.
Cancelled docs app and saw the practice nurse who said it was really really common. It's really freaked me out that something that is so readily handed out can make you feel like this. I was seriously low and feeling like a real failure.

I've decided to have a coil fitted I'm 99% sure I don't want anymore children but I don't feel ready to do anything irreversible. I'm a bit nervous about having it fitted though