May 2017 #17 the fun continues

[teainbed]

Hope everyone will continue to chat about their beautiful May 2017 babies!

[CoxsOrangePippin]

Sipper that sounds pretty great!

[1004Rise]

We might be doing a dream feed by accident.... she'll feed somewhere between 7.30/8.30 pm and then we try and do a bath or just put pjs on and she'll sleep til about 10.30/11 pm when she half wakes and I try to make sure we do that feed lying down then she'll sleep til about 4 am ish - now I'm more awake than she is for that one! Then I get another couple of hours til 6 am ish when she's either wide awake and wants to play or we get a bIt more sleep. Daytimes are still anyone's guess!!

[teainbed]

Safe journey @jennymac31 hope you're feeling better today. I bet your hair looks great and don't let H say otherwise!

We don't do a dreamfeed, he is too sleepy. He goes to bed just before 8 and usually does a big stretch until somewhere between 1 and 4am. I go to bed between 9 and 10 so I miss out on some of the long stretch but this is how all of mine have eventually slept through.

Sorry to hear others are getting screaming after feeds. We've had a bit less today. I think he was probably doing a leap or a growth spurt or something.

I've pinched these links from another thread but thought they were quite interesting especially for first time parents. My older DS was weaned at 17 weeks on paeds advice due to reflux (this was 2005), my DD1 at 6.5 months and DD2 at 5.5 months. I have not really subscribed to any particular type of weaning but as they've all been very different I've just followed their lead. So one very much spoonfed, one more like BLW and one did both!

expectingscience.com/2014/11/07/when-is-it-best-to-introduce-solids/

scienceofmom.com/2015/05/14/starting-solids-4-months-6-months-or-somewhere-in-between/

[Sipperskipper]

Yes cox we're pretty chuffed with how things are at the moment - but I'm very aware how quickly things can and do change, so making the most of it!

[Sipperskipper]

I should probably add each feed takes about 30 mins, and then anything up to 45 mins (sometimes more) to get her to sleep - both at night and for daytime naps.

[jennymac31]

Evening ladies

Well I've just spent the last hour trying to help dh get to sleep, as his ankle has now decided to play up so he's in agony (can't support his weight on it and now has 5 pillows underneath to support it). He also now seems to have a temperature as he's shivering but thinks that it's just tiredness!

Not sure if he's gonna be well enough to attend the wedding tomorrow and to top it all off, he forgot his shoes and only has trainers or beach sandals. Which ones to wear with a 3 piece suit?

Hope you're all having a better Sunday night then me at the moment!

[MrsJW15]

Oh no @jennymac31 🙈

@Sipperskipper it takes us a similar amount of time to settle. Particularly frustrating when you know baby is getting overtired and you only get a short nap anyway!

[Sipperskipper]

Yes mrsjw - for daytime naps the settling is sometimes longer than the nap! One day I thought I would just relax and let her fall asleep if she needed to. Cue huge meltdown around 6pm - never again!

Oh jennymac hope your DH feels better soon. What a nightmare!

[1004Rise]

@jennymac31 trainers with the excuse of a sore ankle he can't fit his foot in his shoes.... no one needs to know he forgot them 😉 hope its a bit better this morning! And I bet your hair looks lovely 😁

@Sipperskipper @MrsJW15 definitely takes longer to settle for daytime naps... we've had a couple of days where she just cat naps for 5 minutes over the 2 hrs.... they're the most frustrating. Luckily I'm either getting enough sleep at night or I'm just getting used to the lack of it so I'm not feeling the need to sleep during the day. Exhausted by about 9.30 though!! 😉

Thanks for those articles @teainbed interesting reading 😊

[CoxsOrangePippin]

With us the settling at night takes ages, in the day it's quicker. But similarly the settling and the napping take around the same time, 20-30 mins.

I thought that until their dreaded sleep regression they were meant to be passively sleeping most of the time?

[Tiggermama]

Hi all, don't want to crash the party but wondering if its ok for me to join..? My boy arrived on 5th May and everything that you ladies are saying is sooo reassuring!
(I'm a FTM so feel like I'm totally winging it everyday )
@CoxsOrangePippin ha yep same issue here except he's better at night, but making progress now. Tiggerbaba was a master catnapper (and then an overtired grinch) and wouldn't be put down to sleep but would only sleep on me/DH. For hours. Which is fine but I need to pee, sleep etc! Took 2 weeks and was really time consuming but we are getting there now, he naps on his own more than half the time now...until the next spurt/jags/random change in habits. Once he learned how to fight sleep it became really tough going.
Dreading sleep regression after all this!

[savagehk]

Hi Tigger :)

[Sipperskipper]

cox baby sipper has NEVER passively slept - from her first day in this earth she has been bright eyed and bushy tailed! I have no idea what to expect when the sleep regression hits!

Welcome tigger, this is a lovely group, everyone is so supportive.

[teainbed]

Welcome @Tiggermama

Settling in bed for sleep is about the only thing we're getting right just now! Finding his thumb made a massive difference to that and so he can just drop of himself without any help. But prior to 12 weeks he needed a lot of help to get to sleep.

[Tiggermama]

Thanks all!
Oh all hail the thumb! Many people (including MIL and by proxy DH) said oh just give him a dummy, I hoped he would find his thumb instead which he has. And his hand, and his wrist

[Tickyboovicki]

Just placemarking so I don't drop off!
Hi tigger, it is a lovely group! We also have a Fb group as well if you use that 🙂

[1004Rise]

Hi @Tiggermama welcome!! It used to be the fastest moving group ever then we all had babies and it slowed down dramatically

[MrsJW15]

Hi @Tiggermama! What did you do to solve your nap issues?!

On the sleep board on here I keep reading that until 3 months old babies should nap easily. But talking to you lot and my nct friends that's clearly not the case!

@Sipperskipper if I let baby W nap when she wanted she would try to stay awake all day and end up very cross!

[vanilla8]

Baby vanilla seems to be fighting napping too. Only just gone for a nap now since 10am. Most of time he is napping on me or atleast starts off that way and I can put him down near me in living room. Last few days he has woken up when I put him down and the crying has started. Either that or I get the sling on so he gets a sleep in!

[Badgerbird]

Hi tigger

Yep naps are Babybadger naps in sling or buggy and is queen of the micronap!! Def won't be put down for a nap yet can settle herself to sleep after a feed at bedtime.

[CoxsOrangePippin]

Re thumbs... Pippin likes his dummy but is starting to knock it out in favour of a thumb, which I think would be great - except he then can't find the thumb and gets all cross!

[Tiggermama]

@MrsJW15 Well I'm not sure how much was what we tried and how much was just him getting to the 3 month less narky bit. From speaking to others they do seem to go through a phase around 10 weeks of only wanting to sleep on you, not in bed.
Sorry for long explanation but this is basically what I did, not saying it's a solution for every baba at all...
But I would wait for the VERY first sign of sleepiness, a tiny yawn or whatever and immediately do quiet cuddle or song. It almost always happens for him about 2 hours after last waking up. Tiggerbaba likes to lie in my lap on his side in a sort of bf cradle position (prob comfy as has acid reflux) and I'd wrap a blanket over his back, wait til he was almost asleep then gently lay him down on his back, first on my knee then in bed. The blanky is warm on his back so he doesn't get the cold shock as much when I put him in bed! (I also warm his bed at night with a warm hot water bottle, really works for him) If he wakes when I lay him down I just put my hand on his tummy and smile and either chat quietly or shush til he drops off. If he cried I'd pick him back up, cuddle til happy then repeat. It meant staying by him and doing it sometimes for ages, but it only took a few days before he'd sleep quicker and he often settles himself now, even if pretty much wide awake sometimes. I think it helps that when he stirs to wake I make sure I'm right there to say hello and he sees me almost straight away.
I do think sleep breeds sleep, we've had some really hard weeks where he literally wouldn't sleep all day from 11 am.
I feel your pain. Afternoons were NOT FUN!
@CoxsOrangePippin yes it's a total pain when they can't find the thumb! They get better at it though

[MrsJW15]

That does sound good @Tiggermama! We need to get better at spotting tired cues, but we do anticipate timing wise when she might need to sleep and then we are more active about helping her and that has made things better. She'll sleep in the buggy but it needs to be dark and moving! She likes to sleep on me but I haven't really figured out how to put her down yet - she wakes up!

[Tiggermama]

How old is your wee one @MrsJW14?
Yeah if I missed the cues it was game over Tiggerbaba will only power nap in his pram which is better than nothing. I found pm naps the hardest, I took him out in the car for 2 afternoon naps to get him in the routine of it then did the above, maybe try the same with the buggy? I decided anything was worth a shot! Putting down is like a stealth maneuver til they get into the habit of sleeping in bed, I did the scooby do creep

[MrsJW15]

@Tiggermama she's 9.5 weeks now. Things definitely feel like they are getting better now we are a bit more proactive. We've also found that a trip on the jubilee line helps - she always sleeps 😂