September 2014 - 6 months already?!

[holls2000]

new thread!

nazly I have pretty much the same bedtime regime as Team. And it worked really quickly for us.

Our general night time routine is:

• Take J up and lay him in his cot. Bottle feed him in there. He is usually awake when finishes feed so I say goodnight, give him a kiss and leave. (Initially I stayed with him incase he cried, but he seems quite happy playing in his cot now.) We can hear him chattering and playing for about 15 minutes before settling.
• If he wakes in the night for a bottle (usually just once a night now), it is done in the cot. I do not remove him. I go straight in and don't do prolonged crying periods.
• If he needed changing, I would also do this in the cot. The key to success (in our case), as Team said, is not removing them.

So, all in all, I haven't had to do controlled crying along the way - it's been more down to making new sleep associations.

My previous way of picking him up, cuddling him, giving him a bottle and letting him falling asleep on me before putting him back, was actually the problem as he was waking up confused and couldn't self settle.
I had been dreading him going into his own room and imagined I would be like a sleep deprived Yoyo constantly going in - but things have been great.

I'm a bit worried as this Sunday we are going out for a meal for DP's birthday and the kids are staying at hers for the night. I'm hoping it doesn't disrupt J's sleeping too much - I have given her some strict rules about not getting him out of the cot - and he is very familiar with her and her house, so I hope it will be ok.

ella Well done to you and your DP - that is an amazing weight loss. Very motivating too !

I've decided to start running again, with my eldest son - I've not been running for 4 years, but am missing it.

My period returned this morning. Realised my last one was Dec 2013 so has taken me a bit by surprise! x

Just a quick one...

Any hints as to what can be given to a baby with a sore throat? DD sounds like she's picked up a 40 a day habit!!!

Team you can get cough syrups suitable from three months. Glycerol I think it is, I picked up a tixylix branded one because DS was coughing a few nights ago, haven't used it yet though.

kitkat I feel your pain. My GP put me on cerazette because apparently I can't have microgynon (what I was on before) when breastfeeding and I think I've been bleeding on and off for about 2-3 months now. I get about a weeks break and it starts again. I spoke to the GP but she said 'it's complicated' because of breastfeeding. Very tempted to ditch all contraception and let my body get on with what it wants to do but don't much fancy getting pregnant either!

Cumbrian, when you decide to go for it you've just got to be as strong as you can. I just keep thinking "next time will be easier". On the first night she woke and we were battling over who is more stubborn for 1hr 15min. I won But other than those two long ones, it is usually over in about 15 minutes. Go for it! The sleep is so worth the few minutes of crying, plus I'm always right there with her, so I know she's fine, just objecting to me being boss for a change!

Ella, don't feel bad about having a night out and getting tipsy! I would think you've spent more than your fair share on nights up with your little one. It's horrid when they are poorly though.

Lilly, thanks. I was wondering about that. I might give it a try later.

I seem to have the only child on the planet who hates calpol! Every other child I've known loves it. DD just spits it out!!!

She's learned how to do this awful shriek/growl/squeal that is clearly intended to indicate her displeasure! It's awful and is driving me totally nuts. On the nicer side of things, she learned to high five today!

I had to go into work for a couple of hours, so my mum had DD. Luckily it all went fine, which is a great relief as she starts nursery in a month DD, not my mum!.

Team I also have a Calpol hater. He is so relaxed with all other tastes and textures that he will eat anything. He even drinks water. But Calpol....No !
And high fiving...how cute !

ella Hope your little one feels better soon - and don't feel guilty ! We all deserve a night out and can't help it if the little people get ill .

Jay and Team have you tried the orange-flavoured Neurofen? DD is a calpol spitter but likes Neurofen so much that she grabs the little wand and shoves it in her mouth

I might try getting some neurofen. I've avoided it until now as I don't react too well to it. Funny though, she takes ranitidine twice a day, and that stuff tastes vile!

Another relatively successful night. She went down really well and woke to feed twice, but needed no other settling.

The bad is the 4.45 wake up. So as usual I'm up from 4.45. She is tired during this time as her eyes are mainly closed, she's yawning and rubbing her eyes. I'm sure if I took her out and cuddled her she'd sleep on my lap for that hour, but I know that would ruin everything we've been doing. In the plus side, I did manage to get her to go back to sleep, but only with me constantly patting or rubbing her back. For the early mornings I think I just need to be strong and persistent, do enough to keep her calm and asleep, but keep it as minimal as I can and work on reducing the amount of intervention I'm doing.

I just need to keep in mind that five nights ago she had to be on one of us for most of the night, and now it seems to just be one very difficult hour. That's actually pretty good!

I hope the rest of you all had good nights and managed some sleep.

I'm now on the one month countdown to going back to work. I did go in for a couple of hours, and I really enjoyed it. My only real anxiety is how DD will get on with nursery. If that goes well, I'm quite looking forward to moving onto the next stage in our lives.

Thanks Team, we do just need to be stronger. Well to be fair, its me rather than DH, so I am going to let him do it and keep out of the way. I may leave the monitor unplugged down stairs until DH comes back down, that way I can't hear as much . Roll on Sunday!

I hope your DD masters the art of sleeping longer than 4.45. That must be really difficult, but you have made great progress.

Well done Team, sounds like great progress. Having the 1-month deadline must be good in some ways, because it gives you the motivation to do it, and that's the hard part when you're so tired yourself.

Random q: do any of you ever leave your babies in the car? I do when paying for petrol, but met a lady yesterday who regularly leaves her baby parked outside supermarkets, etc., which just sounded scary!

I haven't left her in the car yet. Her seat is so easy to take out I tend to just take her in with me when paying for petrol. Not sure what I'll do when she moves up to the next car seat. I'd certainly not leave her out in anywhere other than a small petrol station, and then only if I were parked at the nearest pump to the till and would be able to see her from there. Not sure to be honest.

I leave him if paying for petrol and if dashing to drop something off -but park as close as possible to where am going. wouldn't leave him for anything longer!

oh I have a calpol hater. he hates any medicine. i have to disguise it behind food....

I've left Jessica in the car when paying for petrol but wouldn't be happy leaving her for longer than that or out of my eyesight.

I have only ever left A when paying for petrol (although I try to use the pay at pump as much as possible) or collecting mail from the post office pick up, but I always park in sight. Couldn't imagine leaving him any longer than a minute though. In fact, I didn't drop a form off at the doctors today as he was asleep in his car seat and I didn't want to wake him up to run in (His car seat is really heavy/awkward to carry). Its fine though, the form can wait until Tuesday and I will walk up with it.

A loves calpol, grabs the wand off me when I try to give him it. Not tried/needed Nurofen yet though.

Jay/team, thanks.
I'd actually like to start sleep training this long weekend; he used to sleep in his bed and just wake once but somehow it all went downhill, not sure when...
He still naps in cot but needs shushing and patting on back to fall sleep

My big problem is he is breastfed, refuses bottle completely (although has sips of formula from cup, but very little) and he doesn't breastfeed during days- so I can't cut his night feeds and can't therefore not remove him from cot.... What should I do? Any idea ladies?

Re leaving : I never leave him in car even for 30 seconds ; if I know I have to get out of car to do sth I attach the sling on me and leave it there and take him with me. If he is asleep, I just postpone what I have to do or ask dh to do it...

Haha Ella I had to ditch our bouncer after a very similar incident. I was gutted that DD didn't even make it to their weight limit. It was great being able to strap her in and potter about doing my jobs.

Decided that feeling fed up this week is, in part, due to still wearing my breastfeeding uniform (stretchy top and baggy jumper) despite no longer breastfeeding. I used to love my clothes and putting together fun outfits and have got a bit of money saved that my mum gave me for my birthday so I'm going to invest in a few bits and try and do the capsule wardrobe thing. For motivation I've started a new thread to see if anybody else fancies it too, so it's here if any of you guys are interested in re-vamping your wardrobes:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/2368954-Anybody-up-for-a-capsule-wardrobe-thread

We ditched our bouncer a few weeks ago. Our bouncer gets used so much for those first six months, the end of an era now she's grown out of it fo naps

I have no problems leaving DD in the car if I'm quickly nipping somewhere and she's asleep.

When my niece and nephew were younger, because its a long drive from their house to ours they would regularly fall asleep on the drive to see us. Both bad sleepers so any daytime nap was cherished. My brother would leave all the windows of the car open and we'd leave the front door and windows open so we'd hear when they woke up. I would do that anywhere, but perfectly normal kind of thing to do here.

Correction: I wouldn't do that anywhere...

I wouldn't leave DD in the car at all. You can't trust anyone these days. I do live in London though, so especially not here!

This is going to be the most depressing weekly weigh in update ever, but I'm still going to do it...

Week 4:

• weigh loss: 3lb GAIN (aim: 1 stone, total loss 1.5 lb)
• seven minute workout: everyday (aim: everyday)
• walking: 12.5km (aim: 30km)
• chocolate indiscretions: 3 minor

I've managed to put on most of the weight I've lost! I think there are two reasons for this though... I've got my period this week, so that might be part of it. I've not done enough walking this week. Usually I walk with DD asleep in her pushchair for her long afternoon nap, but because we are doing sleep training I'm making her have all her naps in her cot to give her more opportunity to get used to the new regime.

On the plus side, I've done the seven minute workout everyday for four weeks. I've never shown that much commitment to an exercise plan! I do think my body is looking a little better, even if my scales don't agree.

I really have to prioritise the sleep training over my weight loss, so I have a slightly new plan...

It is now one month until I'm back at work. Then I'll be doing plenty of walking as I'll be walking DD to nursery, then I'll walk to work, then the same in reverse. That's about 5km each day. So for now I'm going to not worry about the walking and prioritise the sleep training. I will keep doing the seven minute workout and won't go crazy on the chocolate, but my aim is to get rid of this three pound I've gained and to then just maintain until I start work. Then I'll be walking loads and it will be easier to control my eating, so I'll start afresh then.