June 2015 - our adorable babies are here!

[comeagainforbigfudge]

Right, I'll start us a post natal thread that we can gibber on.

We had vomit sunami X2 yesterday. One just before our dinner, which necessitated a quick bath/hair wash (which toots hated til sat her in the water then she was happy -ish). 2nd was about half 11 and all down her dad, took. But since then she slept for four hour stretches and been much more settled.

We formula feeding on demand (anywhere from 30ml to 90mls) but I don't know if we fed too much or didn't wind properly. But she is pooing for Britain so no problems that end.

come, poor thing! Glad to hear that your baby is doing fine, but I can only imagine how you felt when it happened. I can so easily see that happening with DS, so as everyone else said, do not feel guilty or blame yourself. It will end up being a fun family anecdote soon...

Welcome pyjama, glad to have you on the thread. My days are quite chaotic. I fully agree with you about the difficulty of sleeping when our babies sleep - I find that it's the only time I get to shower, have breakfast, and do a washing machine. I don't even have any other children, and my DP does 95% of the housework, so I only really do the bare minimum.
I also have the exact same feeling about sometimes thinking it's not even worth trying to sleep, not knowing if DS will nap for 5 minutes or 2 hours.
I also feel lonely during the day. I miss my work (strange, but true), or at least I miss having some intellectual stimulation. I'm sure I'll regret saying this, once I go back to work.

I can definitely see changes in DS (who is 7 weeks now). He is more alert, and sleeps less during the day. I also got lucky with 2 nights in a row when he has slept for 5+ hours straight.
He loves his play mat now!

Hello all!

I've been reading updates but not posted for a while. Sorry to hear about your accident but it really could have happened to anybody don't feel guilty!

Please talk to me about sleep. I need to hear from the mums who do not get stretches longer than 2 hours. Ever. Please tell me I'm not alone.when I read about four, five or even six hour stints I want to cry. Help!!!

roly we have had a few longer stretches but generally we are getting 2-3 hours at a time.

roly, for us, these longer stretches (i.e. 5 hours) literally only just started 3 days ago. How old is your LO? My DS is 7 weeks + 3.

Thanks everyone. I'm trying not to beat myself up. She still in hospital. Absolutely fine. Hopefully home soon. The staff have been great.

I do think once we all home I'll become a blubbering mess

comeagain be kind to yourself. Hope you have lots of lovely family looking after you.

bazza so glad I'm not alone! Are you breastfeeding?

zaha My little boy is 6 weeks today and last 2 nights hasn't even slept for an hour at a time once after midnight. He never sleeps longer than 2 hours maybe 2 1/2 at a push after the early evening feed. We do bath, sleepsuit, feed, bed at that time. I'm breastfeeding but the very last feed of day I give him expresses bottle or formula to try to fill him up as much as poss! Doesn't work though...hopefully by 7 weeks he will have decided to sleep for longer how much was your little one sleeping before these longer stints?

X

roly, DS would only sleep approx 2 hours max before, and worse still he took him almost as long to get back to sleep!
We now have had 3 days in a row with sleep from around 11pm to 3am, feed, and back to sleep until 5-6am.

roly yes I'm breastfeeding. He's had a few good night's recently, last night was 10-8 with only one (2 1/2 hour) feed in the middle.

That's us ALL home now.

DD currently in bouncy chair chat chat chatting to herself quite the thing

And i have it in black and that no further involvement with child protection. Just need to go back for check up in few weeks.

Hi all,
Sorry i've been awol... Been so busy with these 3 and we have just been away for 2 weeks which included dd1's 3rd bday and my bday.

Come... So sorry to hear about the accident, dont beat yourself up, give her a non-mumsnetty hug from us

Well little F is now 10 weeks, where has the time flown to already. X

So glad you are all home come and that things are improving!

Thanks bazza and zaha it kind of gives me hope. There is just absolutely no sign of wanting to sleep for longer stretches at night.

Today I feel quite tearful another night of up every hour and ages to settle. Also in the day not a very content baby. I'm worried that he's just not happy he doesn't really smile and just grizzles and squirms lots. Not a happy mamma today!

come glad to hear you are all back home now

roly don't worry we all have days like that... The sleepless nights will end its a phase I know whilst your going through it it's awful but it does pass eventually

The past couple of weeks have been tough, we have had had a couple of GP visits and a trip to A+E as the D+V returned. Trying to get urine and poo samples was not fun. We now think that the vomiting was due to reflux and so far DS seems to b?e responding well to Gaviscon. Sleeping has got worse again and we are up every couple of hours overnight, although he has naturally moved his bedtime to between 8 and 10pm.

I am finding it hard at the moment because I just can't seem to make DS happy, the only time he is not crying is when he is asleep or feeding. He will only sleep on or curled up into me and I'm feeding out of desperation when he isn't hungry because at least he isn't crying and settles. We have the newborn health check and jabs today which I'm dreading as I can see him being even worse afterwards. I really feel as if I am not good enough for him, and if I were better then he would be happier.

After a few good days and nights, we have regressed back to waking every two hours at night, and being very unsettled during the day. This morning DS would just not stop crying - quite unusual for him and upsetting for me.
On top of that, had a row with DP last night...

excited sorry to hear that things are still tough, we have to stay strong and keep faith in the fact that it will get better. Remember that you are exactly perfect for your LO! I hope the jabs go well (we have them on Monday)

excited I could have written your post - you are not alone. How did the jabs go? Have things improved t all?

zaha sorry your sleep not been great again maybe just a little blip?

I am getting desperate with sleep - last night woke every hour at least. I have bought Gina Ford and Baby Whisperer to give me some ideas for sleep routines. Just need to wait for them to be delivered!

I would be so grateful if anybody who us following a nap / feeding routine / rhythm that seems to be working could give me an overview whilst I await my books arriving?

On the positive...my beautiful boy has perfected smiling. He does it after a terrible broken night sleep... I can only assume to trick me into forgiving him and believing the next night will be better

zaha we are giving a bath before bed, then feed in the dimly lit nursery (feeds during the day are on the sofa), then to basket in dimly lit bedroom with Ewan. It seems to be starting to help.

roly The gaviscon does help but I need to get better at judging when to give it so that he is not in pain while waiting for the kettle to cool. At the moment he is on the changing mat smiling away and kicking his legs. The jabs weren't too bad, he got all red and angry when they happened but sticking him on the boob sorted him out. He started to have a temp rise last night so had a dose of Calpol and went to sleep soon after. The GP is slightly concerned as he is tracking below the 2nd centile for weight, but is on the 75th for length. She was a little reassured as he is starting to develop some chub creases.

Hi everyone.

excited my wee one had jabs other day and was mostly fine til evening. Did same as you with paracetamol. Then next day grumbly upset again. Went out a walk and she slept for two hours! Fresh air helped I reckon

roly I haven't read any books. Just going with some general advice from various sources. Now I am ff so that may make a difference but generally work on feeding every 3hours during the day (this varies as still do it on demand if need be), then "play" time then a sleep. I try to get her sleeping within 1.5 hours since her last sleep. It's not always successful. I have found though that sometimes she looks like she's wanting more food but actually she's tired. Essentially I think she was tired during day that at night she was so overtired that wouldn't settle. Don't have an euan the sheep thing but do have a fisher price light show thing with music. No idea if she likes it but we do

The other thing we do is dummy and patting tummy. Sometimes she jerks herself awake. So we pat her tummy and it helps settle her back to sleep.

Aarggh, DS was waking every 1.5h last night...! I was so excited when he had 4 nights in a row with a big chunk of sleep (sometimes up to 5+ hours!), and now I feel that we are back to square one.
He is currently crying, even though he is feed and clean; DP is trying to calm him not very successfully

bazza we are trying to install a bedtime routine, but I'm not doing a very good job of it.

I do not have a book either, I am trying to go with general advice and common sense. Although if the sleeping doesn't get better, I might resort to a guide.

On a happier note, DS seems to have mastered smiling which makes everything alright.

Cani join the sleep deprivation club?

Dd2 is 8weeks. Juggling her and ds who is nearly 4 is exhausting. Plus feel guilty for neglecting him

Dd has become colicky in the evenings and is very much a Velcro baby during the day. It's exhausting. Realised the longest stretch of sleep I've had in 2 months is 4 hours and I feel totally broken

Good news is that according to google you can't die directly from lack of sleep and this will pass

Roly - my ds had dreadful reflux so I know first hand what hell it can be. My tips would be to get referred to a paediatrician as they will have more knowledge than your gp and to consider cows milk intolerance. Once we eliminated cows milk protein ds was still sick all the time - we were both constantly drenched- but no longer screaming in agony. We also weened early on his consultants advice.

Dd has the same cmpi but so far no signs of reflux

welcome think, and thanks for reassuring us that you can't die from sleep deprivation

DS slept marginally better last night, but has now taken to crying fits during the day. He was such a calm baby in the first few weeks after birth, so it's slightly disconcerting now that he seems to be crying most of the time

Going to the paediatrician tomorrow for jabs and 2-month visit, so I will discuss DS' change in behaviour.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Right. I think it's time we start divulging our go to "stop the baby crying" tricks.

I'll go first

Scottish ceilidh music. (Spotify helps here) jigging about helps get the burps out too

Lying on the floor. Sometimes the cries are cos she wants to wriggle wriggle wriggle

Fisher Price light show thingy (with music). Seems to mesmerise her!!

Laying on the floor helps here too, as does the jiggling/dancing around the room! I've also found she will settle if I lay her on her side rather than her back... She is teething so she has been a little grumpy these last few days but I expected it as dd1 started at the same time too!!

Wearing in the sling and dancing with her. She would be in that sling 24/7 if I let her I think!

What I need tips for is getting her to sleep in her own space ie in her sleepyhead at night and there or in her pram during the day, rather than on me!

Most music seems to work. He's shown preferences for Bob Marley and '90s indie girl bands (Elastica, Garbage etc). Swan Lake was a bit slow in places but he liked the big dramatic ones. He did not like The Prodigy.

DP does Spaceship Baby with him which works every time. He just holds him flat in the air and zooms him round the house, talking in a robot voice and taking him to different planets (Planet Clock, Planet Fridge, the Garden Universe) and often ending in docking at the Feeding Station (my boob). Bloody amazing.