********** December 2006 PART 2 **************

[castlesintheair]

Will this do?

How frightening, castles, hope you've recovered, be nice to yourself tonight esp afer 5am wakeup call as well

Eli, are you getting any good advice yet from mumsnet/gp? Can't just be a cold surely? [hugs]

Feeding quite good again, thanks for asking Oli . I've been reading up on sleep & settling techniques (I was sent some brilliant stuff when ds1 was born from Oz) - think cos he's not napping properly, the feeds suffer too although anyone else finding the warm weather is affecting no. of feeds? I really feel I ought to know all this stuff, but I just get so busy and we have no routine as each weekday completely different.

I did have enough by tonight tho (2 nights running he fed for over an hour) and handed a bottle of formula to dp. If he sleeps through as normal, that's happening every night and I can have a life again, go to a movie etc. Bliss! I will have to express tho, I don't usually, and I'm worried he's missing out on that last comfort thing from me. But I cannot feed for 80mins in a dark room any more!!! It was 9.15 last night when I came down, I'd started at 7.15 & hadn't had dinner plus the chores to do. I wouldn't actually mind at this point if he got up in the night if he'd go to bed at a reasonable hour to start with. I know I know, I'm very very grateful to have a night-sleeping baby (I do remember what's it like, really I do).

Have taken advice from last week's PND scare and structured my week & it's working much better. Went to music class this morning, really really good except that ds clutched my hand the entire time & wouldn't so much as pick up a musical instrument. Nonetheless he's getting dragged there next week. I'm finding (like several others) that the more structured the activity, the easier it is to chat to people e.g. massage cos there's no pressure, it's just incidental. And I've organised various other things to look forward to, feeling quite cheery again. Thanks all!!!

AQ, so glad to hear you're feeling better in yourself. I think anyone who goes to those organised sessions is incredibly brave! I can't work up the nerve to go to a toddler group
Oli, I've just sent a magical sleeping net which the fairies will drape over your house tonight. Hope it helps.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions re going-to-uni presents. My mum gave me a horrible plastic mattress protector when I went

BP, what I meant was the ones that are built around an activity are much easier cos you focus on that rather then 'let's get to know one another'. The mums at the massage & music groups I've been to (and storytime, come to think of it) were much friendlier I suppose cos they were more relaxed as I was! Massage is a really good one, I wish I'd taken ds1. About a dozen babies lined up all naked and gurgling most of the time, gorgeous!

Thanks for the sympathy everyone! Did have nightmares Jabber ... when I slept Not sure what's going on here but DD2 has decided to wake during the night. Last night I was woken at 2am by DS coming to find me, 4am by DD2, so got her up and fed her, just got her back to bed when DD1 comes to join me! Hopefully just a phase but I feel shattered.

Glad things are looking up AQ

How are you Eli? Oli? Good nights I hope?? DD1 & 2 have got colds so I sympathise with you on that front Eli. That could be what's waking DD2 up I guess.

I'm too scared to ask this elsewhere on MN at the moment. Had a long standing arrangement with DM to come up on Thursdays (starting today) to help me out (think I mentioned I was trying to get childcare). It was all arranged that she would come in the morning, get DS from school and I could take DD1 to ballet (which coincides with pick-up time from school). Yesterday she rang and said she was going to stay with my brother instead and then denied all knowledge of our arrangement. Which she suggested btw! I was too tired to argue, just felt a bit sad, letdown AGAIN by my family and left it at that. AIBU? I know it's not relevant to PN but you are my cyber pals and I just thought I'd ask

Castles that is annoying. I hope you can get it sorted for next week though, you may want to kill her but I expect smiling and saying its ok but you could really use her help is the best policy.

AQ glad you are feeling better and I really hope he slept!

A victory of sorts here. The bad part was that I got home from Rainbows to find that ds had spent the entire time screaming at dp and refusing the bottle. Dp had by then dunked him in the bath and he was all happy again (does lead me to think maybe wasn't hungry as had fed a lot that aftrnoon but dp tends to always think he is hungry and then of course screaming gets worse as he doesn't want to be fed!)Anyway rather annoying since we had got him taking a bottle by the end of our formula flirtation. He will be with a friend during rainbows next week so I think I need to try a few times this week. Anyway given that I have about an hour turn around time between Rainbows and Guides this was not the best scenario to come back to!

The good part however is that I only fed once last night! Dream feed at 10, he woke at 1.30 again but I resettled and he woke again at 2.45 which was more what I was aiming for. Fed then (not a huge feed either which dos lead me to believe that he would be more than capable of sleeping through if he put his mind to it). Woke again at 4, resettle, woke at 4.20 resettle til 6.30! As per usual wasn't intersted in food right away.

The times he woke have always featured on his previous feeding patterns so hopefully it is just habit and if we can keep this up he'll stop waking. Anyway I'm happy!

Morning All,

After all the fab nights I have had this week I now fell like I never want DS to sleep again. At 4.15 this monring his cot monitor sounded. Cue me out of bed and in his room so fast, by whic time the alarm had stoped and he was breathing again.

I went back to bed and spent the nxt 20 minutes watching the light flash on and of with his breathing but I could see it was pretty erratic. 4.40 the light had been off a good few seconds so I hurried in to his room just as the alram sounded agin. And I could see he was'nt breathing so I put my hand on his chest and he came back with a jump and started to cry - a lovely sound I can tell you! He seems snuffly and our heating is on because it has a fault and get triggered by the hot water (British gas coming out today). So I puled him out of bed and fed an hour earlier than usual, then put him back down with the wedge under him again and the humidifier on. He then seemed to sleep fine until he had a poo around 7am.

Gonna post on Health and see how many others have experienced this. My SIL said it happened to her DD a coule fo times, but not sure if she got medical advice or not. I know babies sometimes forget to breathe.

Will catch up with posts later. Hope you are all well xx

((Castles)) and . I don't know what AIBU is (even looked it up in acronyms!) but that sounds pretty rough. Is there any possibility she could have forgotten, or is this familiar territory?? I suppose how you deal with it depends on a lot of factors, including history...

Much better night here, thanks C and AQ for asking: dh is blasting dd's nose with Sterimar before her feed and she's feeding better so lasting longer. She had a big dream feed at 10pm, went till nearly 2am, was settled after half an hour then woke me at 5am (wind) but went back to sleep without feeding, in our bed. Short BF at 6am, slept till 8am when dd1 woke us up: bliss! Major, major improvement on night before - but not lulled into security yet

Indith, you made me - dp always thinks dd hungry too, men and their stomachs eh!

x post - LFM, how terrifying. I don't have a cot monitor (dd in same room) but she does stop breathing for long seconds sometimes, usually as catching her breath through snot/larynx. I think a cot monitor would be going off every few hours with her, but do get it checked out - hope he's ok today xxx

God, LFM, that's scary. I'd go straight to the doctors if I were you, just to get him checked.

Well, the sleep vibes seem to be working at last, ds2 went to bed at 6pm, woke at midnight, fed, back tosleep by ten past, up st 3 for big feed then sleep again until 6am. So I only lost an hour's sleep overall - not bad at all compared to what he was doing! Methinks it was probably the 16 week growth spurt, it does seem to be a biggie, doesn't it?

What is it with men and babies being hungry? DH is the same, if ds2 doesn't settle instantly then he passes him straight to me, and wonders why I get narky!

Castles, you're not being unreasonable at all. I think being let down by your family is worse than being let down by friends, feels more personal somehow, like you don't matter enough to them. Don't know what the solution is though, short of having it with her. Completely understand why you don't want to do that, I wouldn't either.

Morning all ..

I'm starting to feel more myself now..now that nights are getting better , and ds cough is easing away . Slept from 11.15pm to 5.45am , resettled at 6.15am till 7.30 wake for day

LFM- god your night sounded scary..i agree with Oli - take him to the docs for a check over , i wouldnt want another night like that worrying . hope hes feeling ok today . {{hugs}} to you both .

Castles - If my family let me down that way - i would be upset and annoyed with them they are the ones being unreasonable not you . Make big hints showing your disappointment - perhaps next time they will have learnt their lesson & not let you down again .

Indith - my dh was just the same , esp at nighttime - he thought it would be easier for him to hand over the baby to the milk machine(!) so that he could go back to sleep !I was a bit peeved off at him and had to explain to him that sometimes ds just want to be rocked back to sleep ...thankfully dh now realises and has picked up the knack of how to resettle him !

Glad to see things getting better night-wise, Oli - 16 week spurt seems ages ago now, can hardly remember it, but yes, vague bells are ringing, it was a big one

Coco, also glad things improving.

Have now figured out (thanks to Oli's post) what AIBU means, and NO NO NO, Castles, you are not BU. To make a long standing arrangement then deny all knowledge is pretty extreme, tbh, unless she's suffering from memory loss of some sort. My BF's Mum does this sort of thing a lot - she (BF) tries hard not to rely on her for anything, but tis nigh on impossible at times with small ones. Big hugs, and if I can help (having had some sleep, you never know ) please yell...

Well I am hoping that Hannah is having the 4mth growth spurt, cause ever since I posted her routine (what there is of it!) she has started waking twice as much in the night again having gotten use to 5-6 hours sleep at a go, its very hard to cope with, am struggling to get up for the school run...

She also threw up for the first time in over a month today, had forgotten what a nightmare it is!

She woke at 6.30 yesterday and apart from a 10 min nap didnt sleep till 5 when she had an hours nap. Really wish I had babies that slept...

One day I seem to manage to cope ok and then the next I struggle all day, the lack of sleep is not helping, but am not sure what I can do as I need the hour or so before the 11 feed to get some work done as I get very little done durimg the day at present.

Oh well it doesnt last forever, tahts what I keep reminding myself...

Thanks everyone. And thanks for the offer of help Eli, but think you have your hands full already! Feel a bit of a drip but I could really do with an extra pair of hands sometimes (like all the time ). No my mother doesn't suffer memory loss - she has an amazing ability to remember the most boring detail of my everyday life. I hate to say it about my DM (there is history though) but she's being a cow I think. Hey ho, better find myself a child-minder after all and chalk it up to more experience.

Glad the night has improved Eli and sorry for those that are having bad ones. Like me. Let's hope it's just an age thang

LFM, I'm so sorry, that sound's very scary. I hope you get some answers from your GP. I have heard of babies forgetting to breathe and I'm sure I've heard there are things that 'remind' them. One example is to be near another human being. I've heard the sound of snoring DH's is meant to be particularly effective!

Milkshake - I hope the doctors can give you some good advice. I did know of another baby who would forget to breathe but she was premature and had other complications. Thank goodness you had the monitor.

Castles - I hope you can resolve childcare issue with your mum

Oli - have you exchanged yet (should I be asking?)

No, no exchange yet Margo, idiot solicitor stopped answering calls yesterday again. Trouble is, because it's not our solicitor we can't do anything which is incredibly frustrating. What about you?

GP checked DS out and is happy he is fine. She said it's not uncommon for babies to forget to breathe albeit they can go for 20 seconds or so and I can only manage 10

Luckily we have an ENT apt tomorrow - thank goodness I did'nt cancel it as I was going to! So Doc said they will give him a thorough check. He's been fine all day but refuses to go to sleep in his cot now - perhaps it wa me waking him that second time that has scared him!

Thanks everyone XX

Gonna post this update on my other thread now!

Advice needed please!
DS has a slight temperature and snotty nose (but he always has a snotty nose). Yesterday he was clingy and sleepy. Today his feeds have been a little erratic as have his naps.
Should I just let whatever this is run it's course or should I calpol him? (eg what doesn't kill him makes him stronger OR he's just a baby, his body doesn't know how to deal with a temperature).
Plus last jabs are due tomorrow - I'm thinking of going but asking them to check his temp b4 giving jabs and for them to make the decision as to whether to give them or not. What thinks you guys?

Whats his temp, Sacha? Calpol not strictly necessary for a small one (fever supposed to help fight the infection) but personally, I give it if and when the dds are feeling rough. If he's happy in himself, I wouldn't worry for a temp below 38, but above that I would. If he's miserable, I'd give it anyway. Poor love, sounds like he's coming down with a stinking cold (at least it doesn't sound like food intolerance, which would be worse in long term??). I think they hold off on jabs if babies have a fever, don't they? dd usually only has temp at start of a cold, then it goes back to normal as the cold comes out - so he might be ok for jabs by tomorrow. Hope he feels better soon.

LFM - phew! Still waiting for ENT apt here, they are so inefficient until you're actually IN hospital, it seems So glad you got reassured

'small one' as in small fever - not small person; sorry, am typing one handed, expressing, and rushing

Thanks Eli, temp is 38 so slight as I said. He has been teething as well all week - really wanting to bite down on fingers and rings and likeing his gums being rubbed. Fingers crossed it's a cold as I have just finished one (although I think food intolerances are going to rear their head anyway with both me and dh having them )

Sacha - poor baby - sounds likes he coming down with a cold ..when my lo had a cold he had a temp to start with and was miserable , as Eli says if theyre miserable I give my dc calpol to bring the temp down . As for jabs , see what your lo is like 2moro am and if hes still has a temp I would postfone it till hes better . My ds is recovering from Bronchiolits and was supposed to have his 3rd jab 3wks ago and I postfoned it. {{hugs}} to you lo - hope he get better soon x

Hello!

Sacha ds had a stinking cold for his first jabs but they checked temp and said as long as it was fine they still did them.

LFM I hope you are getting over the shock/fear! Sure the full check up tomorrow will be fine.

WB I hope you sleep better tonight.

Today has been a rare angelic day. Ds has been fantastic and happy basically all day! We went swmming again and played dunk the baby. So cute his little cheeks all puffed up and bubbles coming out of his nose! He didn't hate it, just looked a bit confused and undecided! Also had an "if I could just work out how to laugh I would" moment. He got so happy playing with me and starting making these almost laughing chirpy noises. So cute.

I have just watched, open mouthed, while my dd1 has tidied up all of her toys. What a good girl! She got lots of cuddles and an extra story for bedtime tonight.

And dd2 has FINALLY gotten rid of her blocked tear duct! No more constantly mucky eyes!

Well I am in awe of the super power of all your sleep vibes! Ds2 went to bed at 7pm, woke at 11pm and had 4oz EBM, slept again until 3am, had half hour feed then slept until 7.15. I think that means he only had 1 wake up . Now you have to keep them coming - I'd like him to stay on 4 hour wakings, so much more sociable. Better still, if you can get him to sleep through......................