March 2016 - quick, a new thread!

[Swearwolf]

Sorry for the terrible title, I saw the old thread was up to 996 posts and panicked!

Ooh don't I feel important

Thanks me weaning wise the only thing we've had is toast - just sucking it until it sort of flops out of his hand. And cucumber sticks the same. He doesn't quite know what to do with it when bits are sucked into his mouth so just spits them back out again.

Maybe I offer water too in a sippy cup. He isn't fussed until he sees me drinking. Wants it from my glass, my water bottle - think he is just at the stage when he wants whatever I have in my hands and on my plate!

maybe the water thing does differ depending on how you feed as apparently they shouldn't need water if you're breastfeeding. But it's so hot and I can't imagine trying to eat without a drink so I'd always offer water. The tommee tippee cheapy cups are the best for this age I think, really easy to drink from.

We're haven't started weaning yet but I do have a few vague memories of when I weaned the boy, and have been looking at my Ella's kitchen book for finger food ideas. I think last time foods he found easy were rice cakes and breadsticks, broccoli, grated cheese and slices of pear. Long stem broccoli is especially good!

Hi KT, and welcome! Glad sharing our woes is helpful! (it certainly helps me!)

Q high-5 for the early night crew... Although we're already later than planned haven't eaten yet...

Sympathy, Swear (and everyone else!). What is it with DHs? Mine routinely comes in and bashes around in the en suite till DS2's awake.

I have no ideas on the weaning questions. I can't remember much of it from DS1 and DS2 is still only 21 weeks and not at all ready yet.

Well, I'm lying here next to DS2 who is definitely not going to sleep. Lots of leg flapping and growling and the occasional cry which mainly seems to be because I'm not playing with him, or he's taken/flapped his dummy out and can't put it back.

He's moved on to tired whinging/screaming now. Wonder how long it'll take..

The pillows were there more by luck than judgment MrsElls!

Time that looks awesome, and your little lady is so cute!

Swear, the harmonica, in a house with a sleeping baby - WTF! And maybe with the nose blowing ! It did make me check chuckle though.

Me, so far savoury kings I've tried are toast, carrot, sweet potato, mange tout, baby sweet corn, tomato (stolen from my plate in a cafe) and cucumber. He loved the toast and tomato but not impressed with the rest. Sweet things we've tried are banana, mango and strawberries - all of which he loves! I also made banana porridge fingers this morning but he was too tired to really do anything with them.

Oh and welcome KT!

Thanks for the ideas, Swear and others, I have some long stemmed broccoli in the fridge actually so will try some of that tomorrow! Slices of pear is a good idea too, he absolutely loved pear purée so will like the flavour at least.

I've been giving DS water with his lunch, initially from a bottle as when we tried a sippy cup a few weeks ago he couldn't get the hang of it, however yesterday I tried him with it again and he drank from it just fine! It's a tommee tippee one, with two handles and a free flow spout.

X post doc, more good ideas thank you! I also have baby sweet corn in the fridge. Need to get some more bananas when we go out too, he loved banana mashed up so I think I'll try him with some bigger chunks to hold. I am doing purées but want to make sure I offer him plenty of finger foods too.

It's our first night of sleep training. T has been quiet for 15 minutes. It took about 2h15 for her to go down. I'm going to bed myself shortly. Not looking forward to the night wakings, but feeling determined. maybe and time have been amazing support on the chat!

I'm hating this. T slept 2055-2230, so maybe 90 minutes. She's been crying since then apart from the half hour feed and nappy change I did just before 0100. She's showing no signs of slowing down. DH did a shift from 2230-0100, I'm on till 0330 now. I honestly think she's not going to sleep tonight. This can't be good for any of us.

Hi all!!!

Oh man sorry it's been ages since I posted, but I've been vaguely trying to keep up! Following the weaning and sleep chat with interest

Will try not to write an essay ..... but I started back at work full-time today, waaah!

I cried on the bus when the driver asked me to show him photos of baby, then I cried when I first walked in as just didn't want to be there and maybe a little in the afternoon too. But gradually it got easier, and I realised it was actually nice to occupy my brain with more complex things than nap tracking and nursery rhymes for a bit! Although it's not so bad this week as DH is home with her. Next week she goes to the child minder and I just feel sick to the stomach when I think of her getting upset there. Everything will be so unfamiliar!!

I have been expressing for weeks since she stopped taking the breast (apart from overnight) and had gradually got my milk up to 50% of her total intake - up from one fifth!! But when pumping at work I couldn't pump nearly as much as at home. At home, after she was crying for half an hour to get to sleep my pumps went right up again - the biology of it all still amazes me. Just shows that we are not really meant to be away from our babies :(

Anyway we've also been doing some sleep training, but not very consistently or aggressively so might need to be a bit firmer. Can I join the chat? Like most of you I thought I would never do it but she has been so sleep deprived since the 4mo regression hit.

Her daycare won't accept dummies so we just went cold turkey with that, and within 24 hours she was self-settling for naps which is great, just a few mins of whinging before going down. However nights are still a different story - it's still 30-60 minutes of crying and lots of going in and out to shush/pat etc. I give her the dummy and she gets up a few times a night still. But she has been feeding at night whereas previously she would go 11 hours without food, so I'm wondering if I should be starting solids? Or is it a comfort thing as she breastfeeds then?

I wanted to do BLW and wait till she was 6 months and sitting up (hopefully just a couple of weeks) but unsure what to do now. She has 32 (US)oz in the day but still seems hungry, and I've read that when they want more than 32 you're supposed to start solids. Just don't see how we'll have time in the morning with work, and I read not to try new foods in the evening due to allergy risks - so is it worth starting it just on weekends?

Anyway good luck to everyone weaning and sleep training, and I'll try and be a bit better at keeping up with everyone. I'll actually have more time to piss about on the computer now I'm at work

Oh Mship for you and much caffeine in the morning - hope you all get some sleep and it pays off tomorrow

ffaux if you'd like to join our sleep support chat pm me your Facebook and I'll add you :)

Morning all!

Mship I hope the rest of your night has been better and you managed some sleep.

ffaux boo to going back to work I don't go back for a while yet but imagine when I do there will be lots of tears and not much work done as I'll constantly be checking in for an update.

Sorry to sound dippy but what is sleep training?!

I am awake bright and early as DS has woken for the past three nights at 4.45am. I am primed and ready for him this morning and he is still sound asleep! He was crying in the night though as he managed to wedge his legs through the bars of the cot. I think I need to get one of those mesh protective things. We removed the pretty cot bumper because I got too paranoid about cot death.

Weaning has begun! DS had baby rice at the weekend. He wasn't sure on Saturday but on Sunday he gobbled it down and then cried because there was no more! He had parsnip yesterday which he seemed to like at first but then pulled a face and spat it back out. Maybe he was just full up? Think we are going to try potato today.

We borrowed a jumperoo and DS absolutely loves it! He's quite happy bouncing away and then tries to bounce on us when he's come out of it. Bless him!

Hi KT, welcome to the group. I'm a bit quiet as DD seems to be sleeping okay but I am sure my time will come. She has woken at 4 for the last week but a dummy gets her back down for 2-3h.

ffaux well done on surviving the return to work. I've about 6 weeks to go, boo. Really hoping my brain still works okay, it seems a bit fuzzy tbh. It hadn't occured to me that nursery may not accept dummies, must ask. DD doesn't need it to go to sleep but if she is startled awake mid nap it can get her back down in a flash. She spends lots of time in the bouncy chair just passing it from hand to hand and squeezing the teat in her fist/chewing the side.

No weaning yet but have got bib and some spoons, hoping to do BLW (puppy will like that...) but not adverse to a bit of puree here and there. Her sitting is coming on well and she tries to put everything eithing reach in her mouth so fingers crossed that includes food.

mship oh poor you! I hope the rest of your night got quieter and baby was more settled. Sounds awful and tbh is why I'm putting off sleep training even though we badly need it. We still feed to sleep so it's no surprise when E wakes in the night and he can't get back to sleep and needs the boob to send him off. Maybe can I join your chat? I'll send you a PM if that's ok?

ffaux I hadn't heard that about evenings and allergies! Will your day care start the BLW for you? You could always start with something if you feel baby needs it over the weekend if it's easier for you though i expect they're probably fine if still breastfeeding at night. Maybe some fruit in the morning?

dotty sleep training refers to any training method used to help babies self settle and/or sleep through the night.

However the method it usually refers to is controlled crying, where you go in to comfort baby briefly at increasing intervals until they go to sleep on their own

I don't know what we're going to do. DH got up at just after 3 and he hadn't been able to sleep at all. We decided that this wasn't working for us, and to reevaluate our approach, maybe get a sleep consultant in ourselves. T was getting louder and more frantic after 4.5 hours of crying, so I brought her into bed with us, got out a boob, and she was asleep in seconds. She's just waking now. Controlled crying worked so well for DS, I don't know what else is out there.

For all the sleep trainers who need it. I think I read the Sensational Sleep Plan book with DS1 (but I don't think it worked much).

After planning to go to bed early last night I actually got to bed way later . I am an idiot. But on the plus side DS2 had some stretches of 3.5 hours, so better than the 2.5 of late.

Well done on being back at work, ffaux. I'm back on Monday and DS2 is straight into FT childcare.

I had a moment yesterday when I suddenly thought "I don't want to go to work, I want to stay home with my baby" but then I remembered I wanted to stay home with my 3-4 month old baby who needs feeding and cuddling, not a more demanding one who needs entertaining with activities and baby groups!

And then I remembered all the A level studying I've been doing this summer. I like my job, I'm better at work than at home (repeats mantra)!

But I need to get this sleep sorted - I don't mean sleeping through, just 4 hours in a row, or I'll crack up like last time.

Oh, I've just realised we weren't awake for an hour between 3-4. That's an improvement!

Domestic we keep having the hour awake in the middle of the night complete with singing from the boy 😊 Which as beautiful as it is just isn't for me at 4 am. What's that all about?
We didn't get it last night either but that's probably because I cracked after he wouldn't settle in his crib post 3:30 feed and brought him into bed with us. Whoops!

and for you MShip. And maybe later! That sounds hellish and I have no suggestions but lots of sympathy. Hopefully a sleep consultant can help.

ffaux well done on your return to work. The nursery DS will be going to allows dummies but tries to limit them to naps, which seems sensible, although they said they'll allow it if a baby gets really upset and can't be soothed. I've started trying to soothe DS in other ways rather than immediately reaching for the dummy as I don't really want him to have it beyond the age of 1.

If your DD seems hungry ffaux then I would up her milk, I've never heard here that having more than 32oz means they should start weaning. DS has between 30-35oz a day and has done for quite a while. We did start weaning 2 weeks ago at 5.5 months but we did that because I felt he was ready in other ways rather than because he was hungry iyswim.

hope things improved in the night mship, all that crying sounds very upsetting for you. What were you trying again? was it no feed until after 1am or was that someone else? Seems like many of our babies are going through rough patches with sleep at the moment so maybe its teething/developmental? DD2 is still cutting her second tooth and last night wouldn't go down till 8pm (bedtime is usually 6.30-7) then woke at 9.30, 11.30, 1? 3? god knows after that I just brought her into bed to co sleep with me and she slept until 6.30, so I think she just wanted the comfort of her mummy as her teeth are hurting

I wanted to ask to those limiting feeds to just one a night is there any particular reason for that? sorry to sound a bit daft but how would you know if they need only one feed? DD2 is 23, almost 24 weeks now and still has 2 feeds a night and they are proper feeds. She has nights like last night (teething) where she wakes up frequently and when I offer her the boob she refuses, so I'm pretty sure she is actually hungry on the (usual) nights where she wakes up for two feeds. I'm not looking to cut down her night feeds but from memory with DD1 we did it when she was waking 4-7 times a night to feed but cut down her feeds gradually like we would only feed her if 3 hours had passes since last feed etc. It was slow progress but she was down to one night feed by 9 months old and no night feeds by 1 year. However she was still a crap sleeper!

Hello to all the newbies on thread [waves] and welcome!

Have a meeting with my colleague today who doesn't get that I'm on maternity leave (am sure I've ranted about her before). I have to take DD2 with me so am hoping DD2 plays up so that colleague will understand a bit but expect DD2 will be a little angel! It annoyed me though as I live a 10 minute walk from work and colleague did not offer to come to my house (she knows where I live) but asked me to come in office. thought it was a bit cheeky seeing as I am doing the meeting for her benefit (to discuss our research) and am not doing a KIT day or getting paid for it. It wouldn't even occur to her that it might be a bit inconvenient for me to bring a 5 month old baby into her office and do what? leave her on the floor? I'm planning to bring a blanket and some toys but I'm dreading it as I really cba to have to sit there while she rants to me about how busy she is and bitches about work gossip and tells me all the things I'm "supposed" to be doing when really I am on leave from work!

marmite a few reasons for me...

1. my sleep consultant told me to. I've friends with BF babies who've done her method and it's worked brilliantly for them so I thought I'd try! When he hits 6 months I'm going to try cutting all of them out, again as per her advice.
2. the more I was feeding him at night the more unsettled he was getting
3. when he feeds at night I can tell he's not really eating, just comfort sucking
4. he's a terrible snacker during the day and I hope this will encourage him to take better feeds

I'd co sleep with him instead but he's just not that kind of baby.

And my DS has been like this for a good 3 months now so I doubt it's developmental. And he's not teething any more

For me it's not about cutting feeds but I do know that dd only needs one feed over night.
When she was waking twice a night the second "feed" would be maybe an 1oz of slow sucking on the bottle and shed pass out again.
Also it's about getting her to sleep on her own to (hopefully) improve her shitty day time nap habits.
Last night she slept 7:45-11:00 and then back until 6. She self settled both times with minimal crying and this morning has been asleep since 8:45. She did wake at 9:10 but she went of again by her self. I took 5 minutes of crying for her to go to sleep.
...However I have just heard her wake up now...