February 2016 - our babies are here!

[IslaMann]

New group for those graduating the ante-natal thread

clumsy I work very hard to get her to have 3 hours a day, ATM she will only sleep in the sling. But until this week she would go down in her cot after rocking (put down asleep!) - I know the whole put down awake but drowsy is what you're meant to do but I simply don't understand how it works - DD just screams until she's apoplectic if I do that!

Oh you poor thing sending and . Unfortunately I think some babies are just crap sleepers and if she screams when you put her down awake then you have to do what works for you. I'm hoping my ds does not take after his dad who slept until he was 4 months and then didn't sleep at all until he was 4! Hopefully someone else will be along with some other tips for you, sorry I'm not much help.

Thanks clumsy second night of no sleep happening here. She slept for 20 mins from 7.45 and that's it so far

Hi ladies,

Keep reading previous posts and forgetting what I want to respond to then thinking I don't have time - grrr! Sorry xxx

Being a mummy is 24/7 isn't it! I have days where I feel great, on top of it (care less about it all being perfect!!) then others where I can honestly think "OMG I can't do this!" I've had a few lunch dates and that's cool getting ready plus makeup - i do struggle after 48-72hrs when it's just me and DD - thank god my mum is so involved I'd be lost!

Never planned to be a lone parent and it's tough but hey it's also amazing!!!

I've also got this new hunger to make life as epic as possible for us now - planning a 6 week trip to New Zealand and Oz in September eeek!!

Liberty - when DD cried when I put her down in the Moses I did the following:

• heat pad to warm the Moses and it now has a really soft fluffy blanket wrapped tightly around the mattress too (this is my personal choice and I'm aware it goes against advice) DD is very sensitive to change in heat from me to Moses

• if crying really hard in Moses gently cup her face in both of my hands so ears are also covered and saying ssshhhh really softly helped to stop crying to avoid picking her up again

• fidgeting hands and feet were waking her up so I rested the still warm heat pad on her middle which helped, I removed it after she was asleep though

• dummy

• facing Moses away from detail and towards a plain wall and closing all windows upstairs etc

I hope I don't sound condescending - this is just what worked for me - the heat thing was the biggest impact it really soothed her...

Oh and were in the fist eating club too! She's kind of licking on gnawing her Sophie giraffe teether toy and also the straps in the car seat!!

Baths are going to be a lot of fun she currently howls when we take her out as she loves it!!

Thanks newmama I've tried most of hat bar the heat pad so I'll try it

Good luck and hugs X

Take it you had another crap night Liberty? One thing I'd say is if it's only happened this once or twice, it may be that she just does it for a few nights then reverts to 'normal'.
I am in a similar situation, DD will sleep on me or in the pram during the day, but any attempt so far to get her in the Moses/cot...and as for putting her down dozy...pah! She needs to be jiggled to buggery to get her to drop off.
Also (not sure if your DD is one of the 'older' ones, but there's the four month sleep regression thing?)

I think it was you clumsy who said re painted toenails? Am so with you on that; I rarely get chance to do fingernails, but tootsies just look wrong unvarnished to my eyes!

One thing that's really sweet is that DD has found her 'voice', so likes to babble in conversation

northern yeah she's 1st Feb, was meant to be Jan but was a week late!

Same here ds not really up for sleep during the day unless you jiggle or carry him. Seems to be a cat napper too, most he will sleep is about 30 minutes at a time. I'm ok with this just now because he sleeps longer stretches at night. I'm guessing once they start moving more during the day (crawling etc), they'll need longer naps?

Mama you are an inspiration! I'm glad you have support from your mum too.

We have an overlap of one month (november) when me and husband are both on leave (his shared parental leave starts and I'm using up my annual leave). We are seriously considering taking ds somewhere warm abroad as we won't have that many opportunities once we are both back at work. If we can afford it and brave enough to travel with 9 month old!

We're doing a minor version of that clara, we've got a week cross over (OH doing till end of Oct) and we're going to treat it as our summer holidays. Go to the seaside and so on.

clara I'd be fine if she did longer stretches at night - last two have been terrible, up every hour or so...longest she's ever gone is 4 hours...not sure what undoing wrong

Liberty you are not doing anything 'wrong'!

I hope chinchilla is right and it's just a short-lived phase. If not, is there a family member you could call in to help for a night or two each week? Just to get you a few hours uninterrupted sleep?

For what it's worth, we had what seemed like a regular feeding pattern which has gone to pot this past week. He is 12 weeks tomorrow so I'm clutching at straws and calling it a growth spurt, but that's because we like to try and rationalise baby behavior!

Thanks clara fingers crossed its just a phase

Evening all!

Sorry for radio silence. A mixture of a busy week and dh moving back into our room seems to have taken all my time. Will read back later...

Dh was supposed to be away Friday to Tuesday last week but ended up coming home Sunday night because of some crisis at work. The weekend flying solo actually went ok. We went to do a bit of shopping and go to the park on the Saturday morning then a friend and her ds came to stay Saturday night. Added bonus of evening company with wine :-)

The cycling gang finished here on Tuesday and in a rash moment I invited them for dinner that evening. It was lovely to catch up with old friends but meant I had a busy day shopping, cooking and cleaning in between looking after babycud, going to baby massage and seeing a friends new house! And of course there was juggling bedtime with hosting as dh was stuck at work... all fun and games and thank goodness for good friends who can let themselves in and sort themselves out with drinks!

This weekend has been busy too with my birthday. Had lovely meal out for lunch yesterday and both boys were really good. Although we did have to ler ds1 strip off to play in the fountains in the city centre after. Ds1 also opened all my presents for me and blew out my candles so I really didn't have to do too much and was spoilt!

All in all I would say we're on good form so hugs to those struggling particularly with sleep as it makes everything so much harder being tired. We only get short naps in the day but doing well at night. The regression at 4 months can be awful though and I think those dates are based on due dates so the older ones could be hitting it. I can't offer much advice but would always go with whatever works without too much concern for bad habits. White noise is one thing that we find useful.

Happy birthday cud

It's dd's birthday today, I can't believe she is 10 already! I have just provided much amusement to the office workers next door on their fag break as they watched me chase banners and balloons all round the front of our flats damn wind! oh well that's my excercise done for the day, I have pre burned off the Chinese buffet and birthday cake calories

Did you have a better night last night liberty?

clumsy slightly yes but compared to the others from my nct group we seem tone hopeless

Thanks clumsy
Try not to compare too much liberty they might not be telling you the warts and all version or they might have their difficult bit to come whether it's sleeping, eating or something else....

liberty cud took the words right out of my mouth (well fingers) I doubt people are as honest about their struggles in real life as we are on here. Obviously I don't know your nct group but people like to boast about their babies. You are doing really well and coping admirably with the lack of sleep, don't forget to treat yourself when possible.

Thanks both! Just feels like everyone is making progress but me. We're in exactly the same place as when she was a newborn. Hopefully going to sidecar the cot tomorrow evening...

Hey everyone! Hope you've all had a good day - I'm finding my mood lifted enormously by the sunny days and light evenings even when we don't leave the house like today.

Baby sensory class for us tomorrow - first class for either of us and one I really hope we enjoy. It's a free taster session and they're offering 20% off next term of we book this month. I'm really,hopeful about this if I can be brave enough to go in the door!

Happy Birthday cud! And happy Birthday to your dd clumsy!

liberty sorry to hear about the sleeping woes. I agree with the above, try not to judge your situation by others'. Is baby belles waking to feed or not sleepy?

Ds2 has had a few weeks of trouble sleeping and I've resorted to bed sharing (aka falling asleep while breastfeeding) - but he's waking up hungry and will go back to sleep, it's just the amount of times I've been having to feed him.

With the onset of beautiful weather I've been having flashbacks and thinking of ds1 a huge amount. I've been pregnant at the same time over the last 2 years, so I'm feeling sick (have done a test, thankfully bfn) and a summer's breeze will send me straight back to Italy, along with a memory of losing him. It's so annoying, I've been so genuinely happy it feels like I'm regressing. I know it's OK, but it's distressing all the same. It was the same last year as well. Sorry rant over.

Mawsy and Maisie are you both still reading? How are you getting on?

I've seen Maisie post on another thread. Mawsy I've not seen anywhere; hope you're OK if you're lurking.

Liberty, there was a funny tale recounted on MN by a woman in your situation about her NCT group. Exactly the same, everyone trying to out-boast the others on how wonderfully LO was sleeping. Being sleep deprived and grumpy as hell she finally lost it and said her DC wasn't sleeping through, bugger to settle, still waking a couple of times (ie utterly normal baby behaviour for that age).
The floodgates opened, all the other women fessed up, their babies were doing just the same. Only now it became a 'whose baby is sleeping worst' competition with them all trying to out do one another with tales of waking six times a night, etc.
Think she left in the end!

Hope you've made it through the door handbag, and are having fun!

It's amazing how some sights, sounds, situations, even some scents can send you straight back haq, when you've experienced trauma. Totally unbidden, so it's not like you can prepare yourself for it, or avoid it.
It was such a short while ago he died in the grand scheme of things, so don't beat yourself up for 'regressing'. You can only go with the flow on how you feel.

We've managed to persuade DD to nap in her bouncy chair past couple of days, so I get some free time- woo! Attempts to have her sleep in her cot for the first hours of the night didn't go so well, but we'll keep at it.
She was weighed and is back on 50th centile, and I got admonished by the HV for not doing tummy time. It'll permanently screw up her development don'tcha know why do I forget to lie at these things

haq sorry to hear that. for you

Yeah the only way she will sleep at night northern and haq is very very closely pressed up to my boob in the crook of my arm on her side. I've no idea if she's waking for hunger or comfort - she will only boob back to sleep but the amount of time it takes varies! Think I'm just going to have to accept we will be cosleeping for some time - it's going to make her amazingly well attached and independent when she's older though right?!

Nap time is also up the sh**er - she was going down quite easily 1.5-2 hours after last wake up with some rocking and then being put down asleep (I know I know rod etc) but now she just fights it and will only sleep in the carrier. She was awake for 3 hours (happy though) before falling asleep for 45 mins in the carrier before waking mewing. She clearly wanted to go back to sleep so she's on the boob sleep sucking...not sure how to deal with ALL these issues
Hope you enjoyed the class handbag

No idea why that's all in bold..