March 2017 (3)

[purpleviolet1]

Thread three!

We had a much better night!
DS slept from 7.10pm - 6.30am and only woke up 3 times, the first was around 8ish and DH managed to settle him without picking him up 👍 The other wakings were midnight and 4am and I fed him briefly each time, at midnight he fell asleep on the boob and was so fast asleep that he didn't wake up when I changed his nappy! But at 4am he woke up when I put him back in the Snuzpod and managed to go back to sleep by himself.
WOOHOO! Here's hoping things will continue to improve. I would like to phase out one of the night feeds but two feeds is already great progress compared to multiple wakings and feeding him every single time.
Thanks again for all the support, you've all helped me to keep going

I'm so pleased for you namechange!! well done. Your doing so well.

Hugh enjoy your anniversary!

Just given the granules for first time. Hope they help. I use anbesol as well.

He is so jolly today it's making my heart melt.

Love hearing about improved nights and jolly babies as I know some are having a tough time

We are of to a friend's house this morning to do some baby massage then off to MILs after lunch. Looks like DD will be snoozing in the car a lot today

@NameChange30 congratulations on having a better night! That's great news!

I'm sure there probably will be a next time, but I will definitely make him take a key! Thanks for the advice re napping, I'll try that next time. I've hired a carrier from the sling library but might have to invest in my own.
The tooth is out a tiny bit, he really struggled last night and is quite unhappy today too. We only have calpol so have given him some of that for now.

@HughLauriesStubble happy anniversary! Hope you have a lovely meal.

@Abacha congratulations to you too! Great to hear the twins slept so well!

I'd love to have a shower at some point today, if DS wasn't so upset

@hugu. Happy anniversary. Enjoy dinner in peace

@coup. Poor ds tooth. Hope you enjoy baby massage. Dd loved the course we did and yes that oil is fine

Can you take him into bathroom and leave on towel watching you while you shower?

@abacha. Fab twins slept last night. Hope continues tonight

@name. Glad your night was better

Sounds like all the babies are learning to self settle /sleep
Better / fab :)

Still waiting for our tooth .......

Dd has gone back to usual sleeping through. Thank god. That one night of whimpering and awake semi killed me

I woke her as usual at 730 this morning after bed at 645pm

Has roast chicken for lunch and veg. Loved it

Sleeping at mo. Will wake her at 130ish and go to M&T - and get homemade cake from the old biddies bless them

And will sleep 4/5 afterwards and tea 5ish

blondes I tried DD with water but I did it wrong so am trying again tonight.

She had a DF at midnight (slightly late as I fell asleep ) then she woke at 3:30 but instead of a feed I gave her water. She then not surprisingly she woke at 5, then 5:30, then 6 etc.

Do you think she was hungry?

If you truely do then Yes feed milk

If you think it's bad habit try water

Do you think she was hungry?

If you truely do then Yes feed milk

If you think it's bad habit try water

I think the waking at 5 is a habit but the waking at 2:30-3:30 for a feed is normal as she goes straight back to sleep

I'm also unsure of what to do tonight. But last two nights I did it a bit wrong as the teat was too fast and I was reluctant to allow him to have much.

So I've got the correct teat today. Given that he wakes anytime between 2-5am (unless he has slept through like the odd night) then how should I proceed? If I let him resettle without anything then he usually does but tends to wake again. So I'm thinking I should offer him unlimited water at the very first wake up and then see if he reawakens. I guess that will be the best indication of whether it is genuine hunger?

Carol and purple
Sharing this in case you find it helpful:
childsleepscience.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/how-do-i-reduce-my-babys-night-feedings/
I was trying to eliminate the earlier feedings first as advised on the blog, but actually DS has been hungry around 11pm-midnight, and when we tried rocking instead of feeding him at that point, he was difficult to settle and would just wake 30-60 minutes later anyway. So for now I'm still feeding him if (when!) he wakes up around 11pm-midnight. My current strategy is to wait at least 4 hours between feeds, so he feeds around 7pm which means no more until after 11pm, then depending on the time of that feed the next one won't be until 3-4am, then nothing until morning (ideally 7am but he's woken up at 6.30am the last two mornings!) Based on the advice I've read, I think that when I come to reducing those feeds, it would be wise to do it gradually, rather than cutting them completely. With formula it's easier as you know exactly how much they're having and can cut it down ounce by ounce... with breastfeeding I have to do it by minutes!
Anyway that's my approach but I haven't exactly cracked it so feel free to ignore me

DS has been really tired all day despite having a better night and his usual naps. It's made me think of what you said Blondes, that sleep breeds sleep. I wonder if the better night has made him more sleepy. All the interrupted nights have exhausted us and I think they must have exhausted him too

Thanks for the congrats btw.

coupester
Your poor DS, hope the Calpol helped and he's doing a bit better now.
Let us know how you get on with the baby carrier

Ah thanks namechange I've read that article before but had forgotten about it. Now I don't know whether I should cut down to 2.5oz or 2oz of milk instead of water lol 😂

Decision making is so hard when you're knackered and feel as if you don't have a clue, isn't it?!

I think it's good to trust your instinct, which can be easier said than done (but what is my instinct telling me?! how can I have instincts when I've never done this before?!)

Personally I usually go for the gradual approach as I'm scared of changing things in case it backfires, so I would probably cut down milk gradually before switching to water, but it's your call! I do think the amount they've had during the day is a factor. When we tried cutting out DS's earlier night feeds we had forgotten to consider the fact that he'd fed a lot less than usual during the day, due to teething pain. Doh. When we realised that it seemed obvious that he would be hungry!

Wow lots to catch up on. Great that we are seeing some sleep progress. We are getting there.

Happy anniversary @Hugh hope you have a lovely meal.

I'm thinking of putting dd in her own room soon. I'm coming round to the idea.

Thanks name based on last night (feel awful thinking about leaving her hungry ) i think I'll give her her DF at 11:30 which is slightly later than usual then see what time she wakes after that for a feed and see how much she has.

I do have an app so I can monitor feeds/ onuces etc but as recently I've been changing or trying to push back feeds so she waits until morning it's not very accurate to what she wants and how much if that makes sense.

I should point out I don't just leave her crying for feeds, she doesn't cry she moans and chats to herself when she won't go back to sleep whether she's hungry or not.

One thing I do know is whether I give her a feed any time after 2am it doesn't change how much she has at 7:30, it's always 3oz follow by porridge.

She's also pretty consistent during the day, the amount increases with each feed(4oz, 5oz) leading up to a 7oz bedtime feed.

Does anybody else have a little monkey in their cots!?! DD keeps "walking" along the bars or pulling herself along! She turning her cot into a climbing frame

Yes sleep breeds sleep

The days dd has 4hrs daytime naps she often sleeps 13hrs a night

Some babies truely are hungry so it's a case of finding if water satisfies them and therefore not hungry or they keep waking after water

As you know I've always said about df - so feed at 11 and most babies will go 4hrs to 3/4

This will extend to 4/5/6/7 as long as they have enough milk solids and sleep daytime

Name so pleased for you! To answer, we had put DD in her cot for daytime naps from very early on (not all to begin with because obviously I enjoyed the sleepy snuggles too much!) So now unless she's ill or we're put she'll nap in there. Then a few weeks back we started putting her down to sleep in her cot between 7 & 8pm until around 11pm when we change and feed her and put her in the snuzpod. Although she still needs that feed there's been plenty of times when I think she might have slept through if we hadn't woken her by moving her.

Having said all this I am going to find it very hard as I'm still suffering ptsd and like to be able to look over at her in the night. But have promised myself that I'm not going to let my problems affect her so we will be starting at the weekend but very gently.

carolann DD is doing the same with climbing the cot rungs and she also swishes herself round so she's across the mattress instead of along it! Total fruitloop!

hugh 100 what do you do when you put your LOs down for bed/naps? Do you put down awake and leave them to their "surfing/climbing" ?

Last night wasn't too bad

Woke at 11:15 for 5oz feed, then again at 3 for a 4oz feed. Woke up chatting at 5 offered water didn't want it so gave her her dummy and left. She fell back to sleep then woke again at 5:45 offered water again didn't want it. This time her sleeping bag felt cold, her nappy had leaked. It's never happened before unless a poonami had struck but it was just wet so had to completely change her and have put her back in her cot. Watching on the monitor she's just lying there playing with her dummy. Still no crying.

If she stays there til 7 that would be fine I'll go in a say good morning

6:40 before she cried out so got her up. Gave her a few sips of water while her bottle cools she's so smiley

So last night wasn’t too bad but I’m
Unsure if I’m doing the right thing

Slept till 5.05, as soon as he woke I dashed through with some water. He drank close enough to 3oz but was more interested in chatting away. Left room at 5:20 and by 5:30 he was nodding off from what I could see on the monitor but a little restless. I fell back to sleep anyway and heard him at 06:30. Went through and offered milk and he took 5oz no bother. Changed his nappy and put him back down thinking that if he nods off I’ll wake him at 07:30 instead. But he didn’t nod off so I came in and said good morning at 7:00 and he was so jolly

Problem is now I’m
Not sure if things are improving by having two wake ups between 7-7 or whether I should keep persevering ? Is it better to offer 3oz milk at first wake up so he sleeps until 7 or should I add a third daytime nap in again and push bedtime a bit later than 7? Arrgghh. I think my problem is too much swapping and changing.