November 2014 - The one where they outrun us!

[MrsAukerman]

New thread ladies.

Well done babyhappy!

Babydolly has one nap at the childminders at around 12ish and 2 with me, 1 at around 9.30 and 1 at 1ish. Yesterday she only had the 9.30 one and it made no difference on sleep last night other than it was super easy to get her down.

The last week or so she's gone back to 2 or 3 wake ups AND 5.30 starts. Its a killer.

We've only had one nap for months and like that, if they go too long we're fucked.

Last night It was awful. We're just worn out. It's been since October and we're clearly doing something wrong. These endless wake ups. Last night he was awake from 1-4. How is that normal?

DH and I are strung out and what freaked me out was that DH broke down at 4am and wept that we couldn't do it anymore and it wasn't getting better. And then I cuddled him till he went to sleep but then I was awake till 5 am, silently bawling my eyes out.

I am thinking of CIO and all sorts. Tbh haven't a clue what to do.

Oh no Anna, poor you all!
I have been awake since 2am with about another 45 minutes 6.30-7.15. Dd1 up coughing. Grim. She woke dd2 and dh couldn't help as he had to get up at silly o clock for work.
Dd2 settled easier than usual and babbled a bit drifting in and out (she never babbles happily at night so- progress!) but ultimately kept waking back up. I gave her 3oz at 4.30 as she was sitting in her cot. She drank it and went back to sleep. Thank Christ!

I'm not sure if giving him a bottle of water is a good idea or not.

We never have.

Prepared to try anything though.

Anna so awful, hopefully you get a decent night soon. I was in impression that your DS was sleeping through fairly often. If that helps DD still hasn't properly slept through not once, she would do 5-6 hours stretch in a good night but nothing like going down in the evening and waking in the morning. She probably knows that once she sleeps through she will be moved out of our bedroom. But it's been some time since dropped partying for hours during the night. Now that I have said it she will do it!

Yeah Strawberry there are drops you can get prescribed for under 2s (like you said, pharmacists can't sell drops to children under 2 - you need to go to the docs). Thing is, doc said it is probably a viral infection (she has a stinking cold again too....) so the drops aren't going to do much good and the best thing is to keep the eyes as clean as possible with cooled boiled water and cotton wool. BUT, nursery won't let her go unless the eyes are being treated . Really hope it starts to improve soon as the gunk is so sticky and it just pours from her eyes - especially when she's been crying / having a 14 mo tantrum....and she won't let me anywhere near her eyes after that....

Anna, really hope things turn a corner for you soon. If it's any help the "sleep consultant" we used (free of charge from local children's centre) also does consultations via Skype....she has a FB page (Walking Zombies) so may be worth you signing up to that page and seeing if you can get some help??? Must admit DH was VERY sceptical when we saw her, but we stuck at it and followed her advice to the absolute letter....within 2 weeks we saw a huge difference except for last night when I reckon she slept a total of 5 hours in a 12 hour period

Oh anna, my heart goes out to you it really does. We were in the same position at Xmas, I was the one saying I couldn't go on much longer. I got the no cry sleep solution book and was recording her sleep when things got much better so we never used it. I started giving her a banana before bed to fill her up. Then I got sick so dp had to put her to bed and do nights and she just stopped waking as often and went down much easier. I don't know if it was the change in routine or lack of boob that did it but it happened in a matter of days.

Although now she's teething again we're having more wake ups. Last night was the worst night in months, she was crying in her sleep from 11 until 1.30 when she woke up and didn't go down again until 4.30. She didn't poo all day so may have had a tummyache. Was one hell of a nappy when she finally went this morning.

haven't you need some breastmilk! Got any friends nearby who are still feeding? I have some in the freezer if you're in East Anglia any time soon :)

strawberry he's more than capable of sleeping through, thats the part that kills us. He has a few good nights in a row and we start to hope....and then it all just reverts to shit and we just despair that the cycle is going to continue for another year or more!

However I think whats contributed to us just not being able to cope at the moment is the new pregnancy. In the last week I have been stricken with a sudden bout of antenatal depression out of the blue. Add sleep deprivation to that and no family support on either side and it all gets pretty huge and scary.

Anyway, saw GP this morning about everything and amongst other things she strongly advised cutting DSs nap down to the minimum he can function on basically as she's worried the sleep deprivation is contributing to my poor emotional state.

So today he is barely-napped. It'll be interesting to see what happens tonight, I'll let you all know how we get on cos if it works it'd be a goddamn miracle and I'll shout it from the rooftops.

anna how was last night? All sounds too much really especially with the pregnancy as well. I'm glad you are seeing the GP about it all though.

DD has one nap after lunch most days now; if she's at home it's about 1-3:30pm, if at nursery it's a bit shorter. She still will sleep in the morning if in the car or buggy at the right time; and does seem to need it a couple of times a week still. We had a couple of bad nights over the weekend which I think was because she only had a short morning nap and no long afternoon one that day; despite falling asleep instantly at 6:45pm she woke numerous times in the night. Funny how they are all different.

She's like a sponge at the moment copying everything we do. We have to be so careful! I made the mistake of tapping a yoghurty spoon on the side of the pot the other day to get rid of the excess and now she bangs her full spoon on the edge of her highchair and splatters it everywhere. I sometimes hold satsuma segments up to the light to check for pips before giving them to her, so now she holds them up in the air before eating them too. Wants to dip rice cakes in my tea (like I dunk my biscuits) and does a satisfied "Ahh!" when taking a first sip of water. Whenever she finds a hat or scarf or other clothes around the house she tries to put it on. She walks around like a bag lady with layers of stuff just draped over her! I'm just glad she's not really talking yet cos we still swear quite a lot in front of her .

I think there are still a few on this thread in Surrey / Hants / SW london etc? I would love to hear any recommendations for days out as DD seems to really be enjoying them and she's free for most which is good obviously! Recently we have been to Godstone and Bockett's farm, and this past weekend went to Chessington Zoo (it's at the theme park but only the zoo bits are open). She had a great time at all of them. Yesterday I went to Little Street play centre in Frimley with her and some friends - amazing - the best I've been to, highly recommend it if you are local. It is all role play stuff so they have a doctors, hairdressers, cafe, supermarket, digger area, road way with ride ons, a fire engine to sit in, loads of dressing up costumes and a "stage" to pose on; and it's all so clean and not too busy as they limit numbers. DD and her buddies had so much fun there.

He slept through! DH and I woke up at 7 and almost wept with relief.

So am going to be militant about his nap now. 60 mins, not a minute more. Hope it works.

I feel better today just for the sleep tbh. Also had a scan & saw my little bean this morning with heart fluttering away. Makes it real. That helps too.

Great news anna. I feel so broody hearing about your scan!! It's wonderful to hear.

DD was up 3 times last night then up for the day at 5. I actually lay there and said to DP 'Why is she torturing us?' I think it's teeth but it doesn't make it any easier. I felt like she was on the boob all night, it was actually really painful and I can't be producing that much milk anymore. At about 2 am I was ready to stop feeding all together tbh.

She's still refusing dinner. Last night just 2 pasta twirls. I'm not giving her dessert anymore (fruit) because I don't want that to become all she has. She does still have the pre-bed banana though.

Anna It's amazing how much better you feel after a night of sleep isn't it? I hope he continues to sleep better for you. And getting to see the baby too, awww!

I worked on Sunday night. DD didn't go to sleep until 11pm! She was just sitting in the cot chatting unless DH tried to leave the room then started crying and screaming. DH brought her downstairs for a bit because he had to clean up etc, which wasn't ideal but I might have done the same in the circumstances if I was the only parent at home because he couldn't just sit in her room all night waiting for her to sleep. Eventually he had to just leave her to cry. Last night I had to go out in the evening, although on both evenings she was asleep when I left, she woke back up again not long after and was awake until after 9. She then woke up at just before 2am and was awake until 4.30am. Again, she was quite happy unless I tried to make her lie down and go to sleep regardless of whether that was in her cot, in our bed, on me, on a duvet on the floor in her room. I was not happy at all! I have had less than 8hrs sleep since I got up on Sunday morning and that has been in brief periods of less than 3hrs at a time. :(

ladydolly DS is going through a stage where all he eats are ham and cheese toasties. Everything else will be thrown on the floor in violent disgust. We find ourselves going "well at least its wholemeal bread.....and look, theres calcium and protein!"

Massive amounts of to those with shit nights last night.

DD had a chocolate biscuit for dinner yesterday, not my finest parenting hour. She threw all the more normal food I offered on the floor. I was starving and desperate for a biscuit so I had to give her one too and she loved it (obviously!). At least after that she had some yoghurt and fruit. Hopefully she'll have eaten some savoury food at nursery today!

Anna aw the scan, lovely! I've just realised we are officially TTC now (well, we managed two shags mid cycle this month...) and I've not started taking folic acid again, oops. Having said that I'm planning on booking an appointment with the IVF clinic about our frozen embryos though as I am not holding out much hope we'll manage it naturally this time either!

Best of luck! I have to say that had I not used ovulation sticks I wouldnt have gotten pregnant this time as it suddenly appeared positive 10 days earlier than I expected and we had to hurriedly DTD! I bought a bunch of cheapies off Amazon.

Knowing when I ov'd also meant I could go to the gp and get a 7 days post ov blood test. That showed I had too low progesterone to get pregnant. So I took large amounts of vitamins to boost it and I got pregnant next cycle.

Worth a try as cheaper than the clinic (and it makes you feel youre doing something iykwim)

Yeah I tried it all last time, and all the hormone tests came back fine. Still no idea why we couldn't get pregnant naturally. My only hope this time is that my periods are a bit different to how they were before getting pregnant so maybe that means something has changed with my reproductive machinery. At least with DD keeping me busy I can't obsess over it like last time!

Thanks for the offer ladydolly - I (stupidly?) didn't bother to freeze any milk when I was BF and even ended up hand expressing down the plug hole on some occasions - what a waste! Highly unlikely to be in your part of he world though so think I'll stick to the drops

So DH and I are sat in the living room and all we can hear down the monitor is continual coughing - the only consolation is that she must be coughing in her sleep otherwise she'd be crying out....

I was assuming that our 2-3 weeks of early morning wake-ups (around 5-5.30am) was just a phase / result of teething...but now I'm wondering if it's cos she's still having 2 naps during the day, or if she wakes up due to hunger. Thing is, she generally falls asleep as soon as she's laid down in her cot bed (7pm) and even though she is up and about so early, she doesn't demand food and doesn't have breakfast until around 7am...maybe it is a phase and at some point she'll magically go back to waking up at 7am (she says hoping beyond hope)

Anna I'm SO pleased you got a decent sleep! Really hope it continues

Me too! Bit worried as today he wouldn't nap at all and then conked out at 3.30! I woke him up remorselessly at 4pm which didn't go down well. So no idea what tonight will bring.

Definitely got everything crossed for you Anna - how old is your DS? Am wondering when our DD will go down to 1 nap....

Meanwhile the coughing is continuing - have put 2 saucepans of boiling water in her room (one of which I put some olbas oil drops in); damp cloth over the radiator and raised her mattress up so it's on a bit of a slope...any other tricks I'm missing???

Apparently, DD settled herself for a nap at nursery and then slept for over a hour!!! DH told them how much of a nightmare she has been for us these past few days, and they said that they play gentle music quietly while the babies are sleeping and maybe that would help. We have moved a radio into her room and put Classic FM on. I don't know if it helped, because she only cried for a hour at bedtime, but surely couldn't hear the music over her own crying. There wasn't a time when she stopped crying and listened to the music either, she went from crying very loudly to asleep. So, we've just finished dinner, the washing-up pile is immense after we used 3 frying pans and a lot of other things in my failed attempt at pancakes (cue tears from DD1) and DH's successful pancakes and dinner, and I have to be up for work in 8hrs. No doctors at work tomorrow so that will be even more crazy than usual and I've just remembered I need to write a statement about something that went wrong on Sunday night. And my mum thinks DD2 has got impetigo, nursery don't seem to have noticed which is good as presumably she can't go if she has got that and I cannot take the day off tomorrow. I made a GP appointment about it, but it isn't an emergency so the next appointment is Friday afternoon.

Babydolly slept through! We've had a hideous week sleep wise and then she sprung that on us! Admittedly she was up at 4.55 and that was it for the day but still, 7 non stop hours for me, I'll take that!! Especially after forcing myself to go to the gym last night despite the lack of sleep this week.

Pancake disasters here too. 1st batch were perfect (considering they were made with egg replacer and almond milk) but then I ran out of plain flour. Consider yourself warned that self raising flour does not work in pancakes!

Talked to the CM about not eating dinner. The CM will only feed her non finger food if she can feed her with a spoon (because DD throws it on the floor or puts it on her head to try and amuse the other babies) so if I send her main meal during the day that's how she'll get it rather than the blw style I've gone with. I'm going to give it a couple more weeks and see if it's just a phase.

havent he dropped to one nap only at 12 months. In the morning.

Now he's suddenly decided he wants to do it in the afternoon instead which is a bit nerve wracking this week of all weeks when we're "nap training"!

Last night despite his late nap he only woke twice, at midnight for 15 mins and at 2am for only 5 mins. So we'll definitely take that!

He's now napping since 2 & I won't let him go beyond 3.

Anyone else down to one afternoon nap or is it just us?

I am kind of forcing DD into her one nap being in the afternoon because I much prefer getting out and about in the morning and then hanging out at home in the afternoon. Plus most of the playgroups, toddler groups etc are on in the morning here.
However it can be tricky because if we have lunch out she will without fail fall asleep in the car or buggy on the way home.

One nap here because it's easier for nursery and the whole day routine but in truth she could still do with 2. Many days she only does 30 mins

How's the cough havent? Dd1 needed her first ever antibiotics for a chest infection earlier this week. Am wondering whether dd2 also needs looking at. Bloody coughing, it's such a bastard.

Well halfstar, without wanting to jinx it, she's been asleep since 7 and haven't heard a dicky bird (yet!).....Fingers crossed as last night it was awful - felt so sorry for her. However, despite the coughing last night, she slept through until 4.30 when she woke up crying; DH managed to get her back to sleep within a few minutes; and she didn't wake up again until just after 6!!! That's the first time she's woken up post 6am for about 3 weeks