************DECEMBER 2006 - PART 3 ****************

[MARGOsBeenPlayingWithMyNooNoo]

I was brave and started a new thread!

And Oli, commiserations the house, it's beyond stressful isn't it? We had same issues when we moved when ds1 was 5 months - removal company had actually packed us all up (inc the kettle) when solicitor told us it would be another week.

jabber, glad you're choosing sleep over anything else, it's the only sensible thing to do! How's the poo situation with ds1? We're still 'clearing out' (tmi!), god I wish I had put him in nappies today!

mag1, sure that if you express on the days you give him formula supply should be alright?

Well done Accessorize!

I'm glad you've been able to ditch the sheilds. AND that you're enjoying it now.

thnx margo! how's the plans to return to work going? are you feeling better about it?

Huge congrats on ditching the shields, AQ! That is really an accomplishment. Allergies abound in our house, plus ds2's excema (sp?) so I'm holding off on solids as well.

I think you'll enjoy p-t work. It helps me stay sane...

Oli, sorry to hear you'll be camping out a while longer. What a pain!

well done aq! sounds like things are going great. i recall DD1 had seperation anxiety from 6-15 months. Dd2 showing no signs yet but i have been passing her around to anyone who'll have her.

my news....shock....DD SLEPT FROM 8.40PM UNTIL 07.10AM!!!!!!! She had her jabs yesterday but also I gave her 2 solids meals in addition to extra breastfeeds so maybe it really has just been hunger after all?? Or the jabs might mean it was a one off. I'm going to try the extra food today and see what happens tonight.

Fantastic news, AQ. I'm not surprised you're chuffed!

We're holding off on weaning, too. DD2 still seems quite happy on BM, and I would rather wait as long as I can, given the allergy nightmare we had with DD1. Might also try BLW, as it seems like so much less effort

I have a question to ask you all - in desperate need of advice! I'm a first-time mum with really no clue about what I'm doing, but DS seems happy so far !
He slept through the night for the whole of March and half of April then decided to get up at least once if not twice for more feeds. HV suggested early weaning and one meal a day of fruit/veg puree is going down a treat. However, he's still getting up at least once every night and the only thing that will settle him is a full feed from me. Taking last night as an example he took 8oz of formula feed, went to sleep at 8.15 only to wake up at 10.30 and scream until I fed him.
So basicaly the question is this - am I doing the right thing feeding him every time he wakes or should I put up with the screaming etc so that he learns to go to sleep without food?

The screaming is horrible but I think I could stand it if I thoguht it was the right (short-term) thing to do .

Well done AQ!
for house stuff Oli.

We were better last night, not back to normal but better! Ds also survived his first time being looked after by someone else. More importantly so did my friend!

I'm hoping to hold the weaning til 6 months, I had excema etc. Also want to do BLW, it makes sense and I'm lazy!

Gloria, I'm no expert - also first time mum. IMO if he is taking a full feed from you then he is genuinely hungry and needs the extra milk, if he was just wanting to suck for comfort or get your attention then he would only suckle for a few minutes.
I have a 20 min rule - If I think he may be waking but not need feeding I try to settle him for 20 mins. If I can't manage it after 20 mins I feed him. This at least stretches his feeds out by 20 mins so the theory is he will eventually go longer. If he has woken screaming and is still screaming after 5 mins then he gets fed! Also if he has gone 5 hours without a feed I automatically feed him as I know that is about his limit (well at the moment 3 1/2 hours is all he is doing at night, after pushing him for the 20 minutes!)
This is all just my opinion, others will think differently, HTH.

Thanks Sacha. In the end I gave in last night and fed him. He only fed 10 mins or so which made me think he just wanted comfort.
Your 20 min rule makes sense, I'll see if I can come up with a timescale that suits Charlie.

well ..my night wasnt too bad, but not for dh ! ds went to bed at 9.30pm to 3.15am , feed/ change np then took ages to resettle 5am ! then only to wake up 10 mins later - dh got up and ds wouldnt settle bk to sleep till 6.15am ! then woke 5 mins later ! grr - so just as i had warmed his feed up he dozed off at 6.40 then woke 7.15 - fed him , just as i was winding him whilst talking to dh , & without warning he threw up over me ! , usually i see the look on his face when hes about to throw up , I got pissed off with dh for not saying that he saw ds was about to throw up & didnt warn me !! .

The good news is that ds is now comfortable with bottle feeding - yay ! ...now I can look forward to my ' baby break' in couple weeks time and go visit my brother at his new swishy apartment and have a few glasses of wine ....

Oli - for you re the house moving - what a drag it must be ..

AQ - youre a fab mummy !! well done , you must feel great

Gloria - When my ds was waking up so much , and he started to suck on anything , even my hand ( he was like a little vampire sucking the blood out of me i ended up having a ' hickey' !), I started to wean him and he wolfs it down ! ..he wakes up once most nights , when he does , and if he tries to suck at me i take it as a sign to feed him , but if hes not , i just try to rock him gently back to sleep. I suppose its a matter of figuring out what he likes and when he wants to be fed or just cuddle till he dozes off again ..

Gloria, I always think it's best to feed them at this age when they wake up as by the time you've finished procrastinating about it, you could have fed them and both gone back to sleep. Eventually as they get more food (milk & solids) they get the day/night balance right themselves. If nearer the age of one they are still waking and wanting milk maybe you can do something else, but I've never had to and I've been doing this malarky for nearly 6 years now. Good luck.

AQ, well done for ditching the shields and it's great isn't it when the b/f finally gets where you want it to be.
I was thinking the other day just how much I am enjoying b/f, although ds1 now thinks it's great to pull off and look around showing the whole world my boobs

Gloria, it's hard to give the right answer as to be honest there isn't one! Having had 5 children I can honestly say each one has been different withe feeding/weaning/sleeping and even on baby #5 I haven't got any extra words of wisdom. Just do whatever you can to make things easier for you. Ds1 is the same and will have a really good feed go down for the night but wake after 2 hours, I feed him back to sleep. Only takes 5 minutes and I know its probably making a rod for my own back but I did the same wih dd4 and she slept from 7pm-7am from 1yr and is still the same at nearly 4y

Well off to get my hair done, having bright red streaks

Oh and dd2 has impetigo which means more washing

{{{{}}}}} to all th emovers. The buying and selling of houses is so incredibly complicated in Englad - I've never really got my head round it. Hope you're managing to stay sane

the movers and England even

Just fell off the wagon big style! I've been trying to shift some of this weight and have been sticking to a GI diet for a couple of weeks. Managed to get back down to my pre-preg weight, but I would like to lose another 5lbs.

But tomorrow is DHs birthday, and I've been making that scrummy Nigella sour cream cake. There was loads of icing left over, even after making a little cake for step-D who shares DHs birthday.

So I ate it. All of it. Didn't even save some for DD1. I feel sick now.

But I bet it feels goooood!

I'm starting to have issues with Thorntons icecream. Why does it have to be at the bottom of my hill?

OOOooohhhh, I LOVE that cake, BP! My step mum makes it and it's scrummy. Don't feel guilty, it's too nice!

Still no move date. Bloody first time buyers at the bottom of the chain STILL haven't signed their sodding contracts, or even made the appointment to go and do it . FGS, they're going to find themselves without a sodding house to buy if they don't get off their backsides and bloody well SIGN.

(Sorry for swearing, that's the edited version!)

Good news though, ds2 has spaced out his feeds to every 3 hours and last night woke at 10, then 11 then 3 and 6, so pretty good.

Bad news was, I went to bed early with d&v bug and migraine, ds2 screamed for 45 mins while dh tried to get him to sleep, dd started fussing at midnight, threw up at 1am, ds1 woke up while dh was changing her sheets, then he threw up at 2am, by the time we were back in bed after sorting him out ds2 had woken up.

Anyone want a couple of extra kids? Free to a good home, will pay travelling expenses!

Oli - i need to winge too!

I thought we would be exchanging any day now. My Solicitor is on holiday and her secretary is writing to me about tree preservation orders, certificates for doors and about needing a letter I wrote to the council a few months ago (which has disappeared, what a surprise). I wish i hadn't been so honest and said that we had newly replaced the door.

Grrr

It's just an absolute nightmare, isn't it Margo? We've been reassured everyday for the last 3 weeks that we're ready to exchange, all the paperwork, etc is complete from all parties, blah, blah, blah, then all of a sudden there's all these queries being raised AGAIN, or new ones that supposedly had been dealt with weeks ago. I am obsessed wth it, it's taking over my life. 3/4 of the house is in boxes, ds1 finishes at preschool tomorrow and we're not likely to exchange until next Tues at least.

I am ready to kill. I even said to dh to say they have until Friday or it's all off, we're pulling out and then ring their solicitor on fri and say it's off, to see if they'll pull their fingers out. I'm not sure it's a game I really want to play though, it could backfire incredibly badly.

I'm only at the quietly weeping stage at the moment...

Watch this space...

Oooooh dp has just been offered another job, with sticking around Durham potential! Well, we don't have a location yet but you have to give them a preference and they have 2 sts of local offices

I read on a cc thread today that a good sign that a baby is feeding in the night out of comfort/habit etc when could in fact sleep through is them not being interested in a feed first thing in the morning. Growth spurts aside, ds has not been fussed about breakfast in ages, much more fun to play in our bed and gaze at daddy (having not seen him for 12 hours overnight daddy is amazing in the morning!) Thoughts?
Not that I'm about to do cc now but it does kind of mak sense. Of course I'm going to play it by ds's rules til exams are over but mummy may get tough after that.

Indith, am I being silly? What's cc?

sorry, controlled crying