May 2017 #17 the fun continues

[teainbed]

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

[Tiggermama]

Yeah we found that once we made it our mission to make sure naps were happening it did improve! We started really trying around the same time and he's just turned 12 weeks, things are way better now

[Acorncat]

Naps are a pain here too, if we have a busy day I'll suddenly realise that it's been hours and hours since she slept. Won't sleep in the car, only by feeding or in the sling and even those naps are getting shorter. I can't put her down at all, wakes within a few minutes. I don't mind her just sleeping on me but she just gets woken up constantly when I need to get up.

[newbieho]

@teainbed thanks for the new thread

Hi @Tiggermama 👋

Bad day today as baby newbie decided not to sleep during the day for the last couple of days and I am foxtrot exhausted. He is now with DH upstairs as I need a break.
We're going to see dietitian tmrw as it seems he may have inherited my lactose intolerance 🙁

[Badgerbird]

Oh newbie days they don't nap are looooong days!! Hope the dietician appointment goes well.

tigger does he go down for daytime naps downstairs in the light whilst you can get on with other bits n pieces (i.e. Make a bit of noise) or is it all dark and quiet?

We are def getting better at spotting signs and actively encouraging nap. It def helps keep melt downs at bay.

Well I say that, it didn't last night!! DH put her to sleep on his lap (she won't do that with me) and when she woke she went crazy! Screamed the place down, tried bath etc but nothing worked so swaddled and bedtime feed then early bed. Meant we were both in bed, lights off just before 9!!

[Tiggermama]

Think it must have been a full moon or something, tiggerbaba was the same last night! Just grinchy so early to bed.
@Badgerbird he's downstairs usually, I draw the curtains a little as his basket (he's a short baba) is right in the window. At first I kept things fairly quiet, I put music on for him to muffle loud noises tho (classic fm bores him to sleep). Initially he didn't want to nap so I got the hoover out, worked pretty well to get him over, plus got some cleaning done! Don't usually need hoover now. Tho YouTube does a great hoover sounds video you can run which does same thing
If she startles herself you could try raising one end of her bed like a couple inches, we do this for reflux but it does lessen the moro reflex massively as well. Tiggerbaba hates being swaddled so had to find another way!

[KLane]

Widening your very good question @Badgerbird Are most of you mamas making the rooms dark or leaving them light for daytime naps? I know there are arguments both ways and we have been keeping the rooms light-ish, but I'm wondering if a dark room would mean longer sleeps? The micro naps are resulting in some very fussy daytime hours. I just don't want to confuse the day/night routine.

[Tiggermama]

That's what I was worried about too KLane, I did put him in his crib with blackout blinds down for a sleep one morning but he seemed to sleep about the same length of time so I didn't bother again. I went for an inbetween and just dim things for daytime. I guess it depends on your babas. At night I keep the whole upstairs almost pitch black and see just by the light from the growegg!

[BouncingBlueberry]

@KLane daytime naps are in his pram in our dining room which is light. At night we make the room dark. He was asleep the other day and we had the dishwasher/washing machine on, OH was hoovering, music on and the Nespresso machine kept going on and he didn't wake.
Could have killed OH this morning. He sent me upstairs last night saying he'd do the cleaning up he then made me have a shower this morning. Came out of the shower to baby screaming hungry, nappy explosion and all the washing up from tea last night not done and a full and dirty dish washer. To say I'm not impressed is an understatement.

[crazyzooo]

The crazy baby sleeps anywhere and just drops off when he is tired (sorry) so I have no daytime routine, just do what he wants. Day time naps are either in the sling or car seat if we are out and about or in the pram if we are downstairs. Lights on, radio/tv on and I do housework (read my kindle and drink coffee) around him and dogs bark etc...
Night time is quiet and dark though or he wants to chat

[Badgerbird]

blueberry what happened there?!?!?!

crazyzoo Baby teach us how!! Ha ha.... I think it's mainly just who they are as little people. Unless you did some serious nap training when very little?

Thanks tigger, think we're going to try the blanket whilst cuddling then put down technique....

Off to our local open cinema and beach in the high street today Lunch first with my friends and their kids then a film about a Dory the fish. Fingers crossed no meltdowns!!

[teainbed]

@KLane I draw the curtains. We have mostly decent naps now but they did used to be very short sometimes. I think 12 weeks is a turning point for sleep according to everything I've read.

It's funny yesterday morning there was no sign of rolling over. Then yesterday afternoon he was lying on his back arching his back, popping up and down! Then today his feet are planted and he's trying to twist his body over! Still a long way from rolling but they're so fast at doing stuff sometimes.

[MrsJW15]

Wow @crazyzooo. Pretty jealous!

Baby W seems to respond well to dark. She's started napping better in her pram when I put a muslin cloth over it!

[crazyzooo]

@badgerbird no sorry he came that way and I take no credit for it (I am totally winging this whole baby business). I couldn't put him down at all for about 9 weeks (even held him in a sling while on the loo) and handed him to his Dad for a quick shower so I think he got used to sleeping when he could! Now he doesn't mind the car seat/pram etc but we still co-sleep. He does expect immediate attention upon waking up though ....

[1004Rise]

Baby Rise is unpredictable, sometimes she'll just go to sleep during the day and sleep for ages. Other days she'll only micronap and end up being passed from person to person. Then she usually crashes out on me and I'm stuck for hours 🤔 She will sleep in her pram if we go for a walk but wakes up as soon as we get back. She likes the noise of restaurants/cafes, hairdryers, hoovers etc so being quiet for daytime naps isn't something we've ever tried. I'm fairly happy with the nighttime sleep we're getting (no massive 9 pm meltdowns anymore) so I'm thinking daytime will also sort itself out. We are doing more playing when she's awake which seems to help her drop off and stay sleeping. They're all so different!!

@teainbed it's as if they pick the thing they're most interested in doing rather than what we're interested in them doing.... I'm desperately trying not to google when should baby do xyz 😁

@BouncingBlueberry hmmm that definitely deserves cake to make up for it!

@Badgerbird enjoy the cinema!

[ClaireSunflower]

For us day naps (not that he'll nap much anymore!) are anywhere I can get him to nap, Moses basket, playmat, sofa, on me, bouncy chair but I always keep it light to not confuse his day time night time routine. He is a great sleeper at night so I don't want to mess that up!

[Badgerbird]

But when they do nap.....

Baby Badger fast asleep after a feed bless her.

[Acorncat]

With DS once he was napping upstairs (from 8 months or so) I'd close the curtains but not put the blackout blind up so it was a bit dark, but not night time dark. I'll probably do the same again, so until then DD will just nap on me or in sling so bright and noisy.

Had a terrible night, ended up coming downstairs at 4am as DD was so unsettled and squawking. We then had one of those 30 minutes where they're just sick every time you change them into clean clothes. Luckily after that I could rock her back to sleep and get back to bed. I think she'd just fed too much and felt ill.

[teainbed]

Bless her @Badgerbird so cute! Love a snuggly nap.

[newbieho]

How are you feeling post op @CoxsOrangePippin ?

[CoxsOrangePippin]

Very sorry for myself tbh still in a fair amount of pain even lying down... I think I was overoptimistic about recovery time as when I searched on here lots of people said much better in five days.

[Barnes79]

Newbie What symptoms does baby newbie have? My gp mentioned something about dairy free diet when I briefly spoke to her on the phone today about baby barnes. We've got an appt on thurs to discuss it properly but I assume she's thinking dairy allergy may be causing baby barnes problems (lots of painful trapped wind, worse when lying flat, causing him to sleep in blocks of an hour or less). We've also been fighting a month+ long battle with a sore bum and a bit of googling says this could be linked to dairy allergy/intolerance.

I must admit today I feel a bit at breaking point after over 2 weeks of sleeping in hour long blocks (or shorter) averaging 4.5hrs sleep a night. It doesn't help that baby barnes is in a screamy mood today and is just screaming between naps. Me and DH had an argument last night about how to manage and so I've got that to look forward to when he gets home. He says he wants to take it in turns to get up with LO, but as his wake ups alternate between feeding and wind, and DH does a formula feed at night, he'd have to do 2 get ups in a row. He's not coping with no sleep either - the past 2 nights he's not been able to differentiate between being asleep and awake, so I'm scared to leave him with LO at night in case he falls asleep with him. He also cycles to work and last week said he was struggling to stay awake whilst cycling home 😱.

I'm currently bf with formula top ups but am starting to wonder if switching to formula completely would just make life easier to handle, especially at night... I know everyone says it's a phase and he'll get better at sleeping but I'm not sure I can last much longer waiting for this phase to end.

[Tiggermama]

@Barnes79 you could be describing our first six weeks! Constant crying/screaming and me not getting more than 1.5hrs sleep at a time (well the sleep thing lasted for over two months for me I was literally a zombie)
Sorry I don't know what's happened up til now as just joined but has acid reflux been ruled out? It took ages to get tiggerbaba some help as they kept saying if he's not puking it's not reflux which is bollocks. Everything you describe, including the sore bum was happening here too.
I can only empathise and hope you get answers soon, it WILL get better. In meantime I'd say do what you and DH need to do to get through it. It's so bloody hard on your relationship, ive been there too. If taking turns will reduce sleep deprivation and means using formula, don't feel guilty about that. I had to stop bf at 11 weeks for medical reasons, stopping was THE most heartbreaking thing I ever experienced bar none as we both loved it. Such sadness and guilt, I can't tell you. It still kills me at times and I break down crying.
But I will say this: we did get more sleep by doing shifts and things became less fraught.
Sorry I can't be more help, hugs x

[newbieho]

Sorry to hear @CoxsOrangePippin 🙁 have you got any stronger painkillers prescribed?

@Barnes79 we've seen the dietitian today and she suspects milk allergy. Little one is unsettled, does not sleep during the day, passes super stinky winds, wakes up every 2-3 hours during the night. I was asked to go diary free. I've got a brochure with a list of dairy foods to avoid/ that are safe. I am also bf with one bottle top up (sma lactofree) and the dietician asked me to leave it as it is a moment. We are going to check in two weeks if the dairy free diet helps.

[Barnes79]

Tigger First of all welcome to the group.
My back story is LO is a small baby - clinging onto 0.4th centile and having to be weighed weekly. He's never been a great sleeper but since about week 4 he's got worse. He's on omeprazole and has been for about 10 days but I don't think it's helped and don't really think it's reflux. When he screams he writhes about until he's done lots of farts or poops. He isn't constipated so that's not it either... He's been referred to paediatrics due to his low weight and got an "urgent" appointment for 6th Oct 😧

I must admit I'd miss the cuddles you get whilst breast feeding if I did stop. I also worry that if I stopped bf that things may not get better and then I'd be absolutely gutted. It's so hard to know what to do for the best...

[Barnes79]

Newbie I might be joining you on that diet on Thursday. If I am would you mind sharing the info the dietician gave you? My fur baby (dog, not a typo) is allergic to dairy too!