August 2016. Anyone got the hang of their babies yet?!!

[plimsolls]

Thought I'd start a new thread. Unimaginative title but E has spent the whole day grizzling/feeding/sleeping on me so I'm running on limited capacity!

Bertrand we seem to be having reasonable success with setting up some sleep associations - so DS used to have to be held whilst bounce walking plus bum patting plus shushing...then gradually has gotten better at being put down and settling with just bum pat and shh...and now will sometimes settle with just shushing from a distance. Took a while and not foolproof but may be worth a try? Their sleep habits are still changing so much anyway, am sure you'll get there in time.
brittany nice to see you on here! Sorry you're having a bit of a tricky time though
Was thinking the other day that lots of people have dropped off the radar who were on the antenatal threads (and didn't switch to the fb group) - christinedonna, owlinatree, am sure there are lots more who I can't remember!

Bertrand what are you doing for childcare? My DS was a shocking sleeper, only ever napped on me. I was really worried when he started nursery but they managed!

I've been awake since 3.30am. Both kids fast asleep but once I'm awake my mind starts racing and that's it! DH has been working away this week so I've been flying solo with 2 kids and 2 dogs. Feeling the strain a bit now!

Bella to keep you going! Hope your DH is home soon.

Bertrand try not to worry about the naps. DS was also a shocking napper and only ever napped in his cot a handful of times, mostly it was in the pram. When he started nursery they managed fine and were clearly used to all the different ways babies sleep. He has always napped well at nursery too

We've got a childminder lined up for four days a week in January bella. Not my ideal solution but we don't have much choice. I've actually officially been back at work for six weels but have been WFH and winging it between naps, which isn't really sustainable.

fourforyou I was thinking of asking to join the FB group but I know it can be tricky opening up to newcomers. What do you think?

Bertrand go for it! The fb group is nice, fairly busy too. Will find out who the admins are and pm you names so you can find them and be added!

cool, thanks!

I too forgot about this thread. It's never in my "I'm on" list for some reason.

bertrand yes please do come and join the fb group! No worries about newcomers (and I think we've had a good trickle of people joining at different times anyway). I find FB easier to use and keep up with, particularly in terms of comments on posts.

For anyone wondering about the group, it's completely secret so none of your Facebook friends can even see it exists let alone that you've joined or what you post. The other members of the group can see your real name but not what's in your profile or anything.

Yay I've joined the dream feed clang Realised that even though she doesn't go to sleep until 11pm...if I feed her at 11 she won't wake at 1:30. Today she slept from 11-3:30am. Hoorah I shall carry this on!

Hmmm. Maybe I might try feeding when I go to bed too. Problem is her bedtime has started taking an age. But she is also quite keen on c1am wake ups at the moment. I'm not so keen!

Might just be a fluke for me Biscuits ** and Dd is not proving so easy to settle since 3:30 as wind keeps waking her up

It's all swings and roundabouts really isn't it! DD was asleep shortly before 9pm, woke 1ish, I fell asleep feeding her woke at 3 with her asleep on my lap, put her back into her crib and then she woke again 5ish. DS has been up since 5ish and DD is just awake now. Today I will be mainlining all the water and coffee. We have a Christmas party this afternoon. Yikes!

dd only wants to sleep on her side so i lie awake checking her or over thinking about various issues kicks in after 4am feed bellagoth i feel your pain- its exhausting!

Fourcoco I'm interested in fb group too

Is anyone going to attempt a routine or have one down (ish) yet? My friend sent me hers but its rather scary looking!

Hmmm can't work out what to do re dream feeding. Generally I go to bed at 9:30 so staying up to feed didnt seem worth it previously (was sleeping until 1-2 ish) but now he's waking at 11-12 it might be worth a go. Glad it's working well for some of you, just need to give it a go I suppose...

Routine wise we have started to feed during the day on more of a routine because I'm going back to work on Tuesday and needed to give the nanny a bit more specific advice and also needed to work out how much milk to leave! So very broadly we aim to feed at 7am, 11am, 3pm 6pm (and then all night long...!) sleep 1-5-2hrs after waking (dependent on length of naps). Aim to have him down for nights sleep 7ish and last nap of the day I wake him by 5:15pm.
I know this sounds militant but there is flex in the system, he's quite a big boy so can manage to go longer between feeds than some (he's over 17lb) and I drop off at school morning, lunchtime and pick up at different times for the older boys so need a greater deal of predictability too.

DD woke at 10pm last night for the first time in ages so it became a dreamfeed test. Which made sod all difference to her subsequent wake ups. But she also had an uncharacteristic epic poo at 3am so that may have been part of the issue.

In other news we have had a bottle feeding breakthrough. MAM bottles. With expressed mik. She still spurns formula. But we can live with that since we're talking about fairly infrequent bottles. I will try and express each day for a bit - freeze some and DH can try a bottle feed every day or two.

I've just ordered the minbie bottles - I hope she takes them as they were expensive and my last hope. Tried several others with no success. I'd thrown my toys out of the pram and stopped expressing as it was all being wasted but I have started again today so fingers crossed.
Regarding dreamfeeding we don't do it as such but she always wakes between half ten/eleven for a feed. Can say it helps her through the night as we're still up at 2,4,6 (with the occasional 5 thrown in) . The only chunk of sleep she gets is from 6.30-10.30/11 but I can't go to bed that early because of the dog.
Good luck to you both going back to work.

Hi guys, I'm just wondering if I could have the details of the Facebook group. I had baby at the end of August and would love to compare notes with others.. Facebook would be far better for keeping up with than on here 😁 TIA 😘

Guest and Brit I'll let Hg know about the FB group for you, I'm also terrible at keeping up on here!

Whattodo how was work?

Ahhh thanks belager it was good thank you. Good to see all of my work colleagues and I didn't feel like I'd been away for so long that I was out of the loop which I think I have done before. Pumped at work (oh the glamour?!!) which was also fine. DS has a rotten cold though so feeling bad I haven't been here for him (but he doesn't seem to have noticed!) this has meant that I've effectively been dream feeding at 10 but he's up so much through the night that it's not improved anyone's sleep!

Please tell me everyone else is going round the bend with sleep again?? I feel like we are back to the early days and I'm going slowly mad.

Yes, definitely alfie. Am blaming the 4m sleep regression thing.

I managed to get out to my xmas dinner last night. It was fun and dd was fine until shortly after 11pm which was when I was coming home again anyway. Away from home for c3.5hrs, by far the longest I have been away from DD since she was born! Took me a couple of hrs to relax but it was worth it 😊

We were up every hour last night. It's been getting worse over the last 2 weeks. No idea how to make it better. We're also blaming the four month sleep regression. She's always been a nap avoider and is just getting worse. Yesterday she only managed two half hour naps all day. Think this is contributing to how bad she is at night.

4 monthregression hasn't hit us yet but she was only 16weeks yesterday so I imagine we've got that to look forward to over Christmas. Lots on the FB group are currently experiencing it.

Anyone seeing teeth yet? E has little buds I can see through her gums but nothing has come through. She's very dribbly on and off I'm hoping full on teething doesn't start for a while but a few friends with same age babies are seeing teeth!

Time is really flying! E isn't quite sitting up yet but she likes to be propped up. She's reaching and grabbing things and occasionally manages to put in her mouth. Very alert and starting to be chatty. She's worked out we come running if she "talks" and then she breaks out into an enormous smile when she sees us. She's particularly lovely at the moment (clearly storing up some credit for the upcoming sleep apocalypse!).

We've been trying to think of good Christmas presents. She doesn't need anything so we were hoping to think of something sentimental and maybe collectible that we can add to year on year. I thought of a charm bracelet but OH not so keen.

Ouch. I'm feeding her as I type this and she's just developed a new very painful technique. No idea what's different about it but it HURTS. Must investigate....

Difficult to differentiate between sleep regression and sickness here but god it's exhausting... DH annoying me too (much lower tolerance for him due to aforementioned sleep deprivation) he's being pretty passive and defensive in the mix... joys! Coupled with knackered older children from school and rising Christmas hysteria is not s winning combo... oh well, DS is super gorgeous though

alfie yes, yes and yes! Was thinking the other day that the thread has gone quiet - clearly everyone's just too exhausted to post 4mo sleep regression still plodding on here. Started at 15w, 5 weeks later we're still not getting any sleep! Lucky for him he's very lovely in the day though. We had our traditional giant Xmas family get together yesterday and he was a dream - passed round everyone quite happily, lots of smiles and chatting, no naps but no grumps either, he was the perfect baby. DD has a little cousin a year older than her and they adore each other - headed off to play and we barely heard a peep from them. With that and everyone wanting DS cuddles, I had 2 hands free the whole day, it was amazing! I drank 3 glasses of mulled wine and thought about how much I love everyone 😂
Biscuits your do sounds fab! You'd not want to be away from them all the time but it's so nice to get a break sometimes and get to just be you again. Glad you enjoyed it and DD was ok
plimsolls you sound like you're getting on really well at the mo! This is such a fab age, and it just gets better and better now (in my opinion anyway!) - so much to look forward to! No teeth here, lots of dribbles and chewing but nothing visible so think it's a way off yet.
Re Xmas presents - one of DD's great uncles has gotten her a swarovski Xmas dec every year since she was born. When she moves out she can have them as the first foundation of her own Xmas traditions. I do like the charm bracelet idea though - you could add one every Xmas and every birthday and she could have it on her 16th or something.