November 2014: The one that needs baby-proofing!

[ladydolly]

And maybe ends with 1st birthdays!!

Oh its all a bit head-wrecking. My period is now officially late but I got a BFN yesterday. So God knows whats going on, tbh. I just have to wait out this week and see if it comes. Or not!

But after my negative yesterday I was a bit bummed out, also my Mum has been quite poorly just in that elderly going-downhill way thats a bit frightening cos the thoughts of losing both in the same year.......

SO I decided to drink a nice glass or three of wine. Great idea at first, waved glass around having opinions at all the baking on telly then got proper hilarious at the expense of the bonkers build on Grand Designs (did you see it?! They're 3 mill in debt after it!)

Went to bed at 11.30 suprisingly merry. Then baby woke.

........And was awake till 2am.

Oh the bitter bitter regret! Wine + Babies = Noooooooo.

It's not fair! DH got a full night 's sleep while I was aT work, but last night DD was awake loads and I got 4hrs sleep, not what I needed after 2 nights at work. Maybe she learnt that there is no point in waking up if I'm not here, but somehow she knows when I am home even though I left for work after she was asleep. The sleepless nights might be even worse now I know she can sleep all night if she wants to.

Ah, I think my post yesterday wasn't clear. I was at work on Tuesday night too, so DH got one terrible night and one brilliant night while I spent 2 nights at work then got a rubbish night.

Greenstone she goes down with either dummy or bottle, mainly bottle even if she drinks about oz only. Clearly the milk is for comfort not being hungry, I would be surprised if she was hungry after the amounts of stuff she eats these days (she eats very fast, I hardly manage to shove things in her mouth, impossible to have meal together. So she has her lunch, then I sit down to have mine and she eats about 10% of mine). DD doesn't like to be picked up and cuddled or rocked during the night, she starts to wail really bad then.

As for milk she hardly drinks any milk during the day (about 3 oz altogether), prefers water, main milk consumption is at night - 8oz before bed and other 8oz during the sleep. I don't intend to take formula milk to the nursery, so she will have only cows milk there if she can be bothered to drink any. When the time comes I will see if she still drinks before/during bed time, might give her formula then as she is already of the size of most 1 year olds and probably will need more vitamins to sustain that tall and strong build no idea where she gets that when her parents are both short, S/M size people?!

Anna I cannot wait till my weekend glass --or three- of vino, will have to catch up on that Grand Designs :)

Is it possible to be jet lagged on 1 hr time difference? Since coming back I seem to fall asleep as soon as we put DD to bed and sit down in front of TV. Last night I only lasted to the end of mokatines round in Bake off

DS is starting to refuse bottles a bit during the day but TBh I have no clue what we should be doing at this age.

He gobbles 7oz as soon as he gets up at 6.30, then he used to have 5oz after his morning nap around 11ish but now he doesn't seem to be hungry for it. Then he generally has about 5/6 oz at 4pm. He still downs 6oz at 7pm up in the bedroom though. In between he has breakfast lunch and dinner and shows a marked preference for solid food.

We're a bit worried about him "getting enough" as he's also quite a fast grower. So when he refuses a bottle then we fret about it and watch the amount he eats at his next meal like a hawk. And then worry if its not that much!

But should we be more relaxed? What age do they start dropping bottles? Should we be using cows milk instead already instead of formula?

Greenstone I will bf til 2yrs as per who recommendations but he currently has 3 day feeds 7,5,6.45 and whatever overnight. From 13mths I will cut the 5pm one out and from 18mths ish cut the morning one.

Night time needs dealing with I just don't have the energy to tackle it at the mo he needs feeding whenever he wakes he had got better at night but cold n tooth n back to poor sleep again.

I intend to bf to 18m as we're going away without him at 20m. He starts cm in Nov so I'll ask her to give sippy cup of cow's milk before naps. I'll continue with morning and night to 18m. I'm trying to get him off boob overnight in the vain hope he won't bother waking for water.

I'm also trying to figure what to do re BF and when to stop...currently DD on 4 BFs a day (no formula at all and no night feeds - if she did, it would be a BF).

She starts nursery from beginning of Nov: 2 mornings a week (8-1) for 2 weeks, then 3 days a week full-time from mid-Nov. Am hoping that for the 1st 2 weeks she'll cope without the mid-morning BF so I'll just go down to 3 feeds a day; and then from mid-Nov I'll go down to the 1st feed in the morning and one before bath time. Am aiming to stop altogether by the end of the year.....

Today was the 1st day she tried to feed herself with a spoon....apart from flicking it everywhere, the spoon did make it into her mouth (albeit upside down) and she looked as pleased as punch with herself ....clearing it all up afterwards took forever!

Haven't DD had a go today too..we bought some of those short handled self feeding spoons as the last time she had a go with her ordinary ones it was a disaster! Today we got upside down spoon in mouth but then thought it was more fun to press it over her nose instead...we now have a little faded orange nosed baby! Messy but funny and super cute

We also had a go at spoons the last 2 days. Both times just preloaded with Greek yogurt. He does get it but it's a pain having to get the spoon(s) off him to reload them.
Food everywhere is an everyday occurrence as full blw here.

I don't want to post too much as I dont want to jynx it but dds sleep has improved so much the last few days. We have had THREE yes THREE nights of sleeping through, and the other nights have been up once at 4ish then sleeping till 8 in with me. I haven't changed anything really so it is just a case of her getting through this patch of shit sleep. I woke up in the bed next to dp for the first time in 3 months this morning forgot how annoying his 3385 alarms are before he gets up

Sorry to all of you who now want to punch me!

Actually yesterday we met a friend for lunch at the Harvester classy up the road from me and dd ate SO much food. She was shovelling in pasta and chicken and veg and went batty over the sweet potato fries! And slept 8-8:20 so my advice to you is take your babies to the harvester and force feed them. Perhaps I have found the answer to non sleeping babies

Ark I am off to google the harvester :D
Last 3 nights have been pain in the bottom, although nowhere near as bad as for those of you whose babies dont go back to sleep for ever. The only thing different from usual is that I have been using up the frozen BM in her bottles mixed with formula, as its been in freezer for about 5 months. Have 3 more cubes left, if she starts to sleep better after that, she will be labelled BM dogder for the rest of her life!

Well the other top tooth is cutting so from last thur poo r boy has had a cold and the 2 top teeth cut no wonder sleep has been poor.

Several wake ups last night but he went down straight away after a cuddle so I can't complain really. DH thinks a growth spurt had something to do with it as he's suddenly really filling out his 9-12 month sleepsuits. They're not trailing after him as he crawls anymore!

I've a friend coming round for lunch who has a boy about 4 months younger. That'll be a blast from the past seeing what he's like! I think she's having a shit time cos I texted her to come over whenever it suits them re: naps and she answered "He changes his nap time every day. ITS HELL"

So I think a lot of hand-holding and reassurance is on the cards!

Had to boob DD 3 times last night but on the bright side she went down easily after each one, even went back to sleep 6.30-8.30am (!) so I'm not going to complain.

She's napping weirdly at nursery, not for very long and then doing a top-up nap after I collect her. So it's like she's sleeping more at night overall and less during the day.

Is the cold any better east? still only 2 teeth here.

Sorry about your mum and the BFN AnnaRose. Keep us posted anyway. Am a bit glad that DD2 is at the older baby stage now. It's bittersweet how quickly time passes, but man is it easier, even with all of the ninja crawling/cruising and messy solids.

Thanks green we are just left with a shitty annoying cough which is causing a sore throat I think thank goodness for paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Ark that's great! Fingers crossed it lasts!!

Well I've got my happy girl back!
I think it must've been a wonder week which she took particularly hard but yesterday she woke up a completely different baby. For a few weeks ive been really worried about her food intake - for lunch and dinner she'd eat maybe ten tiny cubes of cheese and then some fruit. Everything else was roundly refused and to top it off she was basically whinging / crying / screaming all through every meal. Plus hysterical tears every time I put her down. It was awful and I was ringing DH in tears. Then yesterday she woke up happy and just stuffed her face all day, everything I gave her was gobbled up. And she happily played in the playroom on her own (in my sight) for half an hour. I really cannot believe the change overnight!

She's showing quite a few new skills just today - spoon feeding herself with some success, placing her socks and shoes on top of her feet, pointing at things. It's really quite amazing how the changes can be so sudden. Good old wonder week book!

It did not last haha. Rubbish night last night, no crying she was just awake! then slept for 8 hours in my bed she didn't go to bed till gone 10!

I'm so awfully dog broody, desperate for another Great Dane cross like my old boy was but I know it's a bad idea. Tell me im being ridiculous wanting another dog!

Ark only you know if you can manage another dog I know at the moment we cannot manage any pets.

Wishing sleep would improve feel like I have a permanent hangover.

I have Friday nights in the spare bedroom and DH looks after DD on his own. Unbelievable what one night in the week can do! Means on Saturday night I don't fall asleep before 9pm on sofa.

Was thinking about presents for DD first birthday and Christmas. 1 year is when babies are allowed to use duvets and pillows, also we live in an old, listed house so in winter it hardly gets warmer than 20 degrees no matter how much heating we do. Nothing to do with the fact I have beautiful cot bedding sets from The White Company and am itching to get them out! So the first duvet and pillow as part of present would make sense. Quick Google shows that apparently some babies had started to sleep much better with duvet while others talk about their babies being ready for duvet? How do you tell that?! Was thinking maybe having a duvet would stop DD spin around in the bed and she would get a better sleep?

Urgh we've joined streaming cold club. Bloody nursery. Just hope this doesn't end up in another ear infection. Bad night as dd1 was up too with a blocked nose/needing loo...

On the plus side, after about half an hour trying to settle dd2 after her feed, I just tucked her up a bit and left her and went back to bed. She was attempting what sounded like a gossipy chat with me at that stage so I just thought nah. Fully expecting to have to go back into her in 5 mins. It went quiet. After 10 mins she let out a cry. Waited again. Went quiet again. I was up again a bit later with dd1 and checked on dd2. Over the other side of cot on tummy with bum in air. Settling herself like that (and with a cold) is a really positive sign. All of the months trying to get her to do it and no joy but I guess she's more ready now.

What's everyone at for Sunday? Lots of DIY jobs to do here. Weather seems nice. Ark we might get a dog when dd2 is 2 or so. Absolutely could not even countenance one right now!

I think I'm just missing having a big dog. I love my little Staffie to peices and she's amazing with dd but there's no lump I can have a proper throw your arms round cuddle. Anyway it's dps turn to choose the next dog so it will more than likely end up being a lab. I've woken up with a sore throat so im hoping its not the start of something. We're off to bark in the park at Petworth house in a bit, then somewhere for lunch I think!

I worked yesterday. We had terrible nights over the weekend. DD2 has a cold, so would wake up coughing then stay awake crying about it For 2 Hours At A Time Calpol made no difference. 4hrs sleep a night for me. And, despite being awake for half the night, she still wouldn't nap. Yesterday she woke at 6 and woke DD1 up. DH was not impressed as he had to look after them all day while I worked, but apparently he got on really well with 2 sleep-deprived children. Meanwhile, sleep-deprived mummy cried on the way to work from tiredness and guilt at leaving them:(