October 2014- thread 8. Growing up fast, 6 months already!!

[MundayCakes85]

Morning all! A shiny new thread for Easter.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, I'm off to eat copious amounts of chocolate whilst hiding in the floor of the nursery with Ewan the sheep

Here we wake up anywhere between 6-8am but usually 7.30. Boob 15mins later then I make her breakfast 15mins after that.
Nap about 9.30 for an hour.
Boob then lunch around 11-11.30ish.
Nap hopefully around 1. Then a formula feed.
Another nap by 4pm then boob and dinner at around 5.
Bath at 6 then boob to sleep at 7.
Formula feed at 10.30 and boob whenever she wakes in the night.
We're slowly getting more consistent with morning and afternoon nap but lunch time is hit and miss.
Trying to slowly wean off BF, so next week will be 3 bottles.
HTH bump

It's really useful to see other routines. Poor dd2 has to roll with the older two but she's roughly similar now that I read these posts and think about it. It's amazing how the routine kind of evolves.

Bump I think it's very cool how your DD's sleep has evolved in terms of time of bedtime.

All the wake ups sound like teething to me. Had a horrible couple of weeks of hourly (sometimes half hourly) wake ups before/during the bottom two coming though. The rest of the teeth can take their time as it nearly killed me!

It interesting seeing others routines. Mine is pretty similar but when he has a sleep at 9 I wake him after half an hour. That way he has his main nap at 12 which suits me better as toddlerwing sleeps then too. To be honest I don't need to wake him that often now as he's got used to just a short nap then and wakes himself mostly.

The lurgy is still in our house I have it now hopefully it will be gone tom as it only lasted 48hrs with everyone else.

Babywing did his first full nights sleep in his own room last night hurray!!

We're finding it really hard to resettle baby at night due to her wriggling all over the cot. Tonight she's sleeping on her side, but every time I go in to her she's upside down and back to front!! Thank god for sleeping bags

Hello all sorry haven't posted in a while but pretty broken with how N is sleeping. He wakes all through the night mainly hourly, will not be resettled by a dummy and Oh only by me and my nipples... It's led to a pretty painful blister on my right one. I've just expressed off that now thinking it would be easier but it was painful too. What can I do? Will nipple shields help? I'd so like to give him formula but he's allergic. We have been given Nutramigen but all I've heard is it tastes nasty... Anyone had any success with other formulas for allergic babies? I'm so broken, I can't continue being the sole milk provider.
Sorry about the me post.

Sazzle sorry you're feeling broken. I have no suggestions but lots of ((hugs))
I'd be tempted to give the Nutramigen a go, even if N doesn't drink it you could use it in his food.
Keep talking to us though

I'd give the formula a go too Sazzle - have YOU tried it? I've tried both the formulas I've used and they are horrible, I'm not sure how they could be significantly worse to be honest! If I was you I'd be doing some desperation moves too, like making up fruit and veg purees and stuff with the formula and giving it to him just before bed time to try and get a bit of a break in terms of a 3 hour sleep or something.

Mine is now back to 3 hourly wake ups, and I'm already upping the chocolate consumption, if it gets back to hourly again I might start to go a bit mad. You have my sympathies, it's shit.

Sazzle, I'd also give the formula a go. If he doesn't like it, you could always try mixing it with breast milk and gradually reducing the amount of breast milk in it so he gets used to it. Tbh I think most baby food tastes boak as the salt/sugar content is minimal (and realistically, that's what makes a lot of our food taste good!).

Sympathies though. It is an utter killer and I don't know how you manage it.

sazzlehopes All formula tastes foul. I also can't stand the taste of breastmilk which I also consider vomit inducing to my adult palate. Just because we are adults don't like it, doesn't mean a baby wont.

Keep trying with formula.

Sazzle nutramigen and neocate do utterly ming (they smell like cold potato waffles or old McDonald's fries ) but lots of babies take them - however you need to introduce asap to avoid rejection. We were told after 9 months babies won't accept the taste - (they really are that bogging) so I'd make up a bottle and mix 1/4 nutramigen to 3/4 BM and gradually up the ratio - if you want him to accept the taste. You sound really low but hopefully seeing him take a bottle could offer you some freedom. Lil is now happily accepting koko (fortified coconut milk) out of a cup so that's given me a bit of breathing space. Its not calorific enough to use as a regular milk but its a great drink option for allergy babies and its what she'll drink during the 3 days a week when at the CMs when she's 1. It gave me 3 hours uninterrupted piano playing today while DH took both kids out. My brain feels so much happier for that wee time alone

sazzle i really do sympathise with the sleep thing .., you have been through it with your first and now your second... I can see why you are at your wits end hunny. I honestly don't know what to say to advise you for the best ? But i think introducing the rotten formula gradually like the others have said doesn't sound like a bad idea ? You are doing an amazing job and i know how helpless you feel at the moment, but hopefully things will improve for you soon, to be honest about the sleep thing, it cant get any worse eh? Once he is up & about more, who knows ? Its not guaranteed but atleast you know its not that far off in the future in case it does? I honestly salute you sazzle i could not have coped with another dd1 the second, but i have faith you will get through it

Looked after my MiLs Jack Russell puppy (7 months) yesterday through to today. Goodness, I'd forgotten how hyper puppies are. Our spaniel is an old lady now and doesn't get up to much, so the comparison was stark.

Sazzle - Are things any better?

Hope everyone's been too busy having lovely family time to post this weekend.
How did the puppy get on with the baby FATE? E loves the cat, but MIL's dog kept barking and making her cry

My DH has gone south for a week to look after his Mum after a knee replacement op. Given I'll not be able to take the dog for her usual long evening walk by having two babies to put to bed - he's taken the dog with him. Bloody hell BLW is a PITA without a border terrier to eat the floor food! Munday All three of us are missing the dog (and DH!) but especially Lil, the dog always comes to sit next to her on the floor, and gets lots of giggles. I'm pretty sure it'll be the dog that she crawls for first . Borders aren't very noisy dogs but she doesn't flinch at the occasional bark - I guess they acclimatise to it?

OK, what are the alternatives to sleeping bags for babies?

I'm trying to replicate my bed in her room. I think part of her not wanting to sleep in there all that much/not that well, is because it's so different to the room she's slept in up to now.

When she sleeps with me, it's not in a sleeping bag, she just has the duvet over her bottom half. When she's asleep she doesn't move much, so no issue with disappearing under it. Is this still a risk any more once they can move about properly? She sometimes sleeps through choice with her face shoved in my pillow, which I think we've managed to replicate with a fluffy toy thing.

She's really winding me up at the moment. There is only so much of my life I can spend sitting on a bedroom floor with a wailing child next to me kicking the cot bars. I don't think the hours I do this every day are worth the 'reward' of 3 and a half hours sleep in one go. HAAAAAAAARGH.

Puppy was great with the baby. We weren't sure because he does come from a grown-up only house. He had a sniff at baby here and there but was far more interested in the older children who all wanted to play.

I post on the September postnatal thread too (end of Sept baby) and I remember on there someone asked what were the essential things to buy ready for weaning - my answer was a dog!. I absolutely agree with you yellow about needing a dog to clean up the floor under the highchair.

DD had corn on the cob yesterday. Kept her interested for ages.

Talking of dogs, im off to the vet with mine later as she has blood in her urine. I really hope she is ok? My wee dd is suddenly very interested in her, its so cute but my dog wants to lick her to death when she interacts with her she really is so good with my kid which is surprising because before i had kids she was really wary of them.

Hope everyone had a good weekend

The in laws dog is the baby of the household, an untrained bichon fries cross. He bites and jumps at me so no way am I putting my PFB on the floor with it!
My fur baby psycho cat stays clear unless it's food time. He really enjoyed left over ReadyBrek this morning!!

Munday that's not PFB at all! I hate folk who don't teach their dogs who's boss. We got the dog when DS was 10 months as a pup - she is amazing with them but has been taught since day 1 that they outrank her - she's not allowed on the sofa, has been trained not to take food out of their hands, is fed after us and on command, and even then you can never trust them 100% with a child.

I'm just watching Lil do her 'angry skydiver' impression trying to crawl to the cat. There's definite movement and she's close to getting it - awww the cat has just stalked off . That's no fun puss she nearly had you!

Hi everyone sorry didn't mean to go awol- I don't find the time to post as much as I'd like. Thanks for all your help and kind words, I feel a bit better after a few lie ins when my OH has taken baby downstairs in the morning etc over the weekend. I'm ready to tackle the bottle thing and the formula, I think I will do a mix of bm and formula and see if he minds it too much and then go from there.
yellow I'd heard too that the fortified oat milk was ok to give too, I've drunk the koko brand but hadn't thought of baby having it, but yes I'd been told ok to have some oat milk or use it to cook with but it wasn't fatty enough to replace bm/formula until they were one?

stigz hope you're dog is ok?
I'd love a dog to clear up after blw, although I feel the time I spend clearing the floor is still less than making endless purées?!
goats no advice I'm afraid about your LO sleeping arrangements, but then I'm hardly nailing it myself!!!

Glad you got a well deserved lie in sazzle

My poor dog has a stone in her bladder, needs emergency surgery tomorrow & £500 to pay for it. I have insurance thank god but they need the money up front first. Feel so worried for her

goats i use a quilt on baby, i just tuck it in under the mattress and make sure her feet are that bottom of the cot so she cant wiggle down under them, i use the one i got with my cot bedding set.

Aw poor STIGZdog hope she's ok after surgery.
Sazzle good to hear from you, let us know how the BM/ formula mix goes.
Goats today I spend a good 2 hours baby wrangling for 2 crappy naps. Didn't feel worth it. No advice but good luck tonight.

So, it seems that by using the dirty sheet from my bed - that she and I have slept/dribbled/puked on for 10 days (mostly her doing the latter two things!), plus putting a blanket inside a used pillow case and using it like a mini duvet thing just over her feet when she's in her normal sleeping bag, she is more comfy in her cot. We also got a cot bumper (which definitely makes it all look more cosy) and pushed her bedtime back an hour in an attempt to crack the evening sleeping thing.

She napped this afternoon in said dirty sheet combo without question, and this evening she has woken up, but not for any length of time. Beats last night's hour on the floor of the nursery thing that I was doing. Doesn't help that there are definite teething things going on - she's gnawing like crazy on anything she can get her hands on - often just her hands. Bless.

When she wakes up in the next half hour or so, boyfriend is going to formula her, and put her back in her cot. Fingers crossed for at least three hours in there. Apparently over the weekend when we left her in the cot and boyfriend actually slept in the same bed as me, I woke up shouting 'Where is she?' and rummaging around under the duvet. I don't remember that.. funny.