August 2015 - Let the Sleepless Nights Commence

[nolongerwaitingfornumber2]

My DC2 was born on 5th August and I'm up in the wee hours feeding away. Anyone else with their August babies care to join me?

I still can't believe he's here and in my arms!

I was just about to take a picture of the leggings siani, but ds had other ideas and did an explosive poo all down one leg. Lovely!
Have you seen the blue cord dungarees that have just come in? I want them so much, but we have way too many clothes for him as it is.

jockstar, not wiping the kitchen properly is definitely LTB territory .

Feel better soon dozy. That sounds horrendous.

Enjoy the party fanby.

We're just getting settled for the night. Fingers crossed we all get plenty of sleep.

Frolic I'm DEFINITELY having those dungarees! I've got the green knitted ones with the rainbow on and the gnome bodysuit... And the psychedelic forest bodysuit and sleepsuit. :D Honestly, if I could afford it I'd have Fergus in the Little Bird stuff all the time. We've got a mothercare gift card from my other half's work and it's going straight on those dungarees on Monday!

I drink while bf. Not masses. I don't go on the lash but I don't count glasses. Easily had half a bottle tonight. Probably a bit more. It's never done my girls any harm. I think you have to drink really lots and lots before it would make your milk harmful. There's a link to a study on this subject on the kellymom site. I'll find it when it's not 3 am.

I've decided, on balance, not to ltb. It was a close one but he does the bins (including the recycling) and he mostly deals with other dirty jobs like washing the nappies and filling the generator so he's off the hook. Card is marked though.

Sil arrives with her troops tomorrow to stay with fil. Mil is here staying with us and smil is away down to London. I'm making dinner for everyone tomorrow (Sunday). I don't think smil will be pleased when she hears. She hates mil! Eeek! Family politics in the offing.

I'm so hungry. Must step away from the cake. ?? I wish it was as easy to lose weight as it is to put it on. Why isn't there cake and chocolate that melts chub? So unfair.

Will check out the art gallery, Clstow. Cheers for the heads up. The hearing appointment is two hours long apparently but I'm determined we'll salvage something from the day. We've all been doing our own "experiments " on the baby and I'm pretty sure she can hear so I expect the test will be fine. Fingers crossed it's on a nursery day. Do not fancy wrangling dd1 at the hospital!

Happy Sunday everyone!

evolutionaryparenting.com/guest-post-breastfeeding-and-alcohol-consumption/

This is a hood read on alcohol and breastfeeding that put me at ease about drinking.

Dd is back to her usual self of waking at 4am. I knew the sleeping through was too good to be true.

Seem to feel ok after a sleep so hopefully that sickness has passed. At least it will have helped my diet seeing as I puked up everything I ate lol.

Hope sleep is going ok for most of .

Fanby glad you're enjoying your party. I felt quite drunk when I had 2 glasses of wine lol.

Re the booze thing, apparently milk alcohol level is same as blood alcohol level. You'd have to drink a lot to have a blood alcohol level of, say, 2%. Not that I'd give my baby a 2% alcoholic drink! I have the odd glass of wine but can't face the idea - and frankly don't have the time - of going to drink more.

Ds has always woken about every 3 hours for a feed at night but just now he's waking and just having a little suck then drifting off. I think he's not really hungry, he's just doing it for comfort. He's 13lb so should be able to go longer physiologically between feeds. But what can I do? Leave him to cry? I really don't have the heart or energy for that, especially in the night.

The sleep continual build up of deprivation is really getting to me and this is the last bloody thing I need. I have to be actively involved in all his daytime sleep (with him in sling, pram, or shushing / letting him suck a finger) so I never get a catch up and while he's not as bad as some babies (he does at least go to sleep at night) it's just so relentless. I'm failing to see light at the end of the tunnel just now and fantasising about a couple of hours proper sleep.

Little sod is now sleeping like a cherub on my chest after waking for a poxy few little sucks. If he wasn't hungry, why not just stay asleep FFS!

those are gorgeous siani. I was looking at some on e-bay the other day. I may have to make the purchase after seeing them on Fergus. Have you looked on e-bay - it all seems to sell really well.

I've not had a drink yet. I felt so sick when I was pregnant that I can't face any kind of hangover yet. And I'm the lucky sod who always feels dreadful after just one glass.

Ds took hours to settle again last night. And now he's wide awake instead of having his usual lie-in. Someone pass the coffee?

I just went to log the bleeding I'm having in my period tracker app and this came up. 294 days late!

Haha frolic - alert alert!! You 'may' have missed a period

Ooooh that little bird stuff looks funky. Although I don't need any clothes for DD I'm getting to the point of not just wanting her to be in babygros all the time.

So project schnoozle didn't massively work last night. Bath, change and feed in bedroom all went well. Then the little bugger wouldn't settle, we tried pushing in the pram, ssshing etc etc then I just thought to try the sling and she was sparko within minutes. Why haven't I used the sling at nighttime before now?! What is wrong with my brain??!! DH and I have also decided to do away with the 7pm 'bedtime' for her and get her to bed with us at 10.30pm ish rather than stress ourselves about doing it sooner. We're such sleep rebels!! Will try bath, change, feed and sling tonight and see how it goes!!!

DH has just informed me that he invited some of his family round for dinner today - WTF?! Told him he best get up and get to the shop to buy what HE needs to cook!!! And it better bloody-well be something delicious!

Hope you've all had some sleep overnight x

Morning everyone!

We're in a hotel room en route to visiting DH's family and amazingly DD didn't wake when DS cried as I was so worried about having two children waking up the whole hotel!

Oh I hate the not wiping the worktops crime! My DH does it too so I may have become a "soak wanker" in retaliation.

Naps here are in the bouncer, car, pram or on me too. We leave her in the crib in a morning while we all have breakfast downstairs and get DD ready if he is napping at that time bit generally that's the only nap we get in the crib. Oh and yes the sling is a lifesaver too for naps and having arms back!

Am looking forward to a few days at the seaside now and hope I don't kill my in laws! DD loves the beach even if she is all wrapped up in woollens and wellies!

We were getting several poos a day but now getting one huge explosive, up to the armpits, vest needs throwing away type every two.days. I think I preferred lots of small ones to be honest as I dread how bad the next one will be!

My DD sleeps in Moses basket during the day and co-sleeps on top of me all night!

Took 2DCs to a party yesterday afternoon and left DH with baby for first time ever - he was frazzled by time I got back (2hrs) - he said he had to walk around with her for 2 hrs as she cried anytime he tried to put her down - as if I didn't know this is what it's like - welcome to my world. It was nice to get out and spend time with 2 and 5 year old without having a baby attached to me - felt like they got some proper attention as do feel guilty they don't get enough of my time just now.

fanby your DHs nugget made me lol

Those clothes look gorgeous! I've never even heard of them!

I'm sooooo tired today! DS had his worst night since he was a new newborn and included DH and me having 'words' at 4am! DS took nearly an hour to get to sleep despite being fast asleep when I put him in his Moses! When he finally did I could see him on the monitor writhing around in his sleep for the 2 hours until we went to bed! He had his bottle at 6.30 rather than 8.30 which threw his feeds out too so he had one at 11.30 when we went to bed (no chance of trying dream feed he was wide awake the minute we went in the bedroom!) and took until half 12 to go to sleep- then woke every half hour murmering and needing dummy putting back! Woke for feed at 0315 (DHs shift) and was still wide awake at 4am and DHs usual commentary woke me! I just wrote out a massive rant about the 'words' we had but it was stupidly long and I'm sure you guys aren't interested! Let's just say DH is an idiot! anyway DS barely slept more than 20 minutes after that and I changed his nappy at 730 and curled up on the floor next to his changing mat as he went quiet momentarily- DH found me there at 8am! Think he felt abit sorry for me as when I suggested he takes DS down for a feed and I'd grab and hours sleep he disnt grumble- even when I slept till 0950 instead!

Apparently as soon as he had his bottle DS fell asleep and is still asleep in his cosy now- laughing in his sleep! Probably at his poor tired mummy the monkey! We have to drive an hour to my cousins 21st today and I just want to sleep but she's so excited to see DS I cat cancel! Think I'm going to buy some hideous monster drinks to get me through! I have only had maybe 2 glasses of prosecco since he was born and I really don't miss alcohol! Never did when I was pg and can easily see me never bothering again to be honest! The idea of even the slightest hangover whilst looking after DS is enough to put me off!

Soo after Friday's horror of a night (DS up every hour but for comfort rather than food - sounds v similar to yours Effin) he slept for NINE hours straight last night! Of course I kept waking up to check he was breathing but omg!! That's double his previous longest stretch! Don't know if maybe he was just nackered from a really busy day yesterday... Maybe sleep doesn't promote sleep after all Of course it was probably a one off, but the timing was great. I felt like crap yesterday scared that he would never ever sleep for longer than an hour again, so at least I know that he can do it now. I wanted to tell you guys not to be annoying and braggy but to give hope to anyone exhausted that it can go from a horrendous night to a belter for no discernible reason.

Naps here happen almost exclusively in the sling at the moment, DS even went off the pram and the car this week but am going to commence project nap tomorrow in a bid to get him sleeping in his Moses Basket.

Argh my DP never wipes the surfaces either. It's so annoying... He also leaves the washing up 'till later' then I find it still there when I wake up in the morning. Grrrr.

DS is normally a 2-poo per day kinda guy, but he didn't have one all of yesterday so maybe he's starting to go less.

We've got our 'official' NCT reunion this afternoon, I see all the mums and babies most weeks but it'll be nice to see the Dads as well. Hope everyone else is getting the gorgeous sunshine that we are. Happy Sunday all.

P.S Loving all the gorgeous baby pics, how cute are all our LOs? Here's one of DS enjoying going to the supermarket with his Dad yesterday.

Haha frolic! Your certainly did miss a period!!

The wine helped the sleep! I fed her when we got in again at 12:155 then DH tried to give her a bottle 5:300 but it wasn't at correct temperature so princess wouldn't take it. At 8am DH took her downstairs and she had it then whilst I slept until about 9:30! Feel like I've had all the sleep in the world but still feel like a massive grump!

Got to go to my sisters baby shower today, must say can't really be bothered. It's her second child too, which I thought was a bit odd to have one but her friend has organised it...

Clstow needed to read your long stretch of sleep message this morning! Thankyou! Reminded me that I don't need to feel so sorry for myself as hopefully DS will at least go back to normal and last night was a one off! Right going to man up now and stop sulking!

Oh and yes to DH not wiping fm down the sides- when he does he polishes all the stainless steel with bloody Mr sheen!!! Hob, cooker hood, sink and drainer!! So sodding annoying- I point out every time it's hardly hygienic and I don't want my dishes tasting of polish or the entire hob setting on fire as polish is bloody flammable but he insists on it being 'shiny'!! FFS!!

My dp used to refuse doing the dishes because we didn't have a dishwasher so he bought a dishwasher and that novelty soon wore off

So dd is back to waking up at 4am and feeding constantly till now. I'm wondering if when she feeds in the lying down position that maybe she doesn't get the milk properly so although it's a comfy position and I get some sleep it might be worth sitting up and feeding to make sure she definitely gets it. Who knows. But I can't keep feeding her for hours on end. It's not practical. Feel like she's never going to grow out of cluster feeding.

That's so odd! I posted and now scanned down and there were more posts that I missed!

Loveandsmiles, your little girl is just so gorgeous!!!!

Oh lily what a shit night, hope you manage to enjoy the party, sending you lots of hugs

clstow - oh he just super!! Look at that cheeky face! Well done on the sleep!

Dozy - sorry to hear about the cluster feeding. I wouldn't know about the position affecting milk flow...but, my right boob is turbo boob and if I lean forward it definitely stems the flow a bit?

Molly had a feed over an hour ago and has been asleep on me ever sense, really enjoying the cuddle

Ok feel like am going to break the nice female solidarity vibe we have going on here by saying this but I am a massive 'soak wanker'. Sorry I know it's just laziness. I do however agree about the work tops. It drives me mad that DH never does them!!

Here is DS rocking his little bird dungarees. I love that stuff. All our gift vouchers have gone on them (and a baby monitor as spoil sport DH insisted on something sensible) DH thinks I dress him like a greenpeace activist. My little rainbow warrior.

Clstow massive high five over the sleep. Very happy for you. And always share. I love hearing about good sleep on this thread cause it gives me hope. And I think there's a nice all in it together vibe. I never feel like anyone is bragging.

Mzzzf I think good approach to night time. We are going to try when we are home but am not going to stress if it doesn't work. Am not replacing colic crying with bedtime crying. However I do wonder if it might help DS as he is a light sleeper so being in the dark and quiet might help?? We'll see.

Dozy I stopped doing lying down feeding for similar reasons. I did find that lying down was taking forever but once I started sitting up it got quicker. Of course could be coincidence. But so much harder to wake myself to do it however I keep thinking it will hopefully get me back to sleep quicker. I also got a bit nervous doing it as my boobs are bigger than his head!!

DS is a 3 times a day at least kind of poo-er. And is so grumpy if he doesn't go. However the look of happiness on his face after he's been makes me laugh every time.

Nolonger enjoy the seaside (and good look with in laws).

My mum has taken DS out whist she walks their dog. Had a lovely long shower. But sad loser that I kind of ready for him to come back now.......

I need some of this little bird attire!! It's so cute!!

God I love being at home. Molly has been asleep on me since her 10am feed, I have a whole tin of biscuits and mum keeps bringing me HOT cups of tea lol, I need to move closer to home....

Kbro ooh I love those dungarees, I had the red ones when Fergus was smaller, but he's outgrown them now. I am ABSOLUTELY FINE with him looking like a tiny hippy, we live in Brighton and have a rainbow pram, there's no fighting that stereotype!

Made up for our awesome night of sleep with an absolutely hellish one last night. When my OH woke up in the morning I'd managed a grand total of three 45 minute stretches all night and was nearly crying. Fergus isn't waking to feed, it's the wee - he even fell spontaneously asleep as soon as he'd been changed after waking me at 5:45. I can't think of anything I can do to help with it, really. I've read that their bodies inhibit the peeing when they are in deep sleep, but he pees before he can get into the deep sleep and wakes right up crying to be changed.
Thank god for my OH having an outbreak of empathy and taking the baby downstairs for a couple of hours so I could sleep this morning, I'd actually be sitting in my sicky bra and crying without it!

Hi everyone. Gorgeous baby pics. Will definitely need to have a nosy at the little bird clothes, they are adorable!

My back is really sore today, but I had 9 hours sleep last night as DP did the night shift.
DP doesn't live with me so I don't have the problem of him not wiping sides or being a soak wanker. I do it all myself (which is why he stays once or twice a week to do the night shift, bit only when he's not got work the next day)
Most of the time I'm on my own with all three DCs, and my house is usually a mess. But I've managed to get on top with some of the housework now so its not too bad at the minute (until I do messy play with DD again!)

This is Nathan with a big milky grin, and this is me and DD this morning, looking a lot better today!

Fatty you're a legend doing all that solo with three. Eff the housework indeed!! I think you're allowed to be a soak wanker of its you that ultimately has to clean them later, so you're still cool! lovely piiccies too!

Uneventful and therefore awesome
Sunday today. DH's mum and bro came round, DH cooked, the dishwasher is taking the strain and I managed to eat at the table with everyone with dd in a sling. She may have got a little potato on her head but that's ok!!

Btw diet totally out of the window as I smashed had cherry cake and custard!

Hope you've all had relaxing Sunday's and that we ALL have a restful night!

Ahh fatty, gorge pics!! Sod the housework!! You sound like you deserve a medal!

Mzzzf - good Sunday! Hope you get a good night to polish of a lovely day!

Molly is all tucked up on my lap and we're watching X factor, she has been super cute today. The baby shower was lovely actually so pleased I went. Hope she sleeps well tonight, weird that DH has gone back to London. Don't know how you do it fatty! x

I hope everyone has had a good day.
Can I ask how all of you are feeling about work? I've seen a few work friends in the past week and it's hit me how much I miss it. I never expected to feel this way. I love looking after ds - He is utterly amazing and I'm not ready to leave him at all yet. But, I kind of miss using my brain. Looking after ds is definitely challenging, but I miss the different challenge/ stimulation of work. Totally unexpected!

I'm loving all the gorgeous baby pics! Those of you who like the little bird stuff, what other brands do you like? I'm getting quite into choosing outfits for ds (again, totally unexpected). I love brightly coloured stuff and also things like rompers and dungarees. So far i've got some nice stuff from Toby tiger, maxomorra and smafolk.

Your Sunday sounds lovely mzzf, especially the cherry cake! Mmmmm! I'm going to dive into a trifle any minute.
Ds is always covered in my biscuit crumbs!

Enjoy the seaside nolonger.

Sorry you had a shit night lily. I hope tonight is better.

Well done on an epic sleep baby clstow. Cross fingers you manage the same again tonight.

I hope everyone else has had a good day. We are going to attempt to watch a film while ds naps. I bet we get 10 minutes in before he starts up .

I proper miss work, but I was made redundant the week before Christmas so effectively haven't worked for a year...I do massively look forward to working again for my own sanity and for the money, like you I miss using my brain.

Molly mainly wears Next stuff as there is a clearance shop near my folks and my mum kindly buys a ridiculous amount of presents for her, I've literally bought her two pairs of tights and a dress lol.

Hope you get to enjoy your film x

Does anyone use gro bags? I have some to try and was wondering how many layers you put underneath? The guide says vest and sleepsuit but I would have thought that would be too hot?

Yep! Have used them from the beginning. I think I'm probably over dressing her but she sleeps in a vest and sleepsuit, then the gro bag, she swaps between a 2.5 and a 1 tog. TBH I still haven't got the hang of what to dress them in