March 2007 babies - a bottle of house white please

[kiwibella]

you choose - for you or for your bubba

I can't believe the May thread is so excited that their babies are arriving. That time in our lives seems like soooooo long ago .

hello !

glad to see we are still the chatty lot we always were.

sorry,forgot to say welcome newmum24!

my baby is 10 weeks tomorrow.it goes so fast once they're out

mossy-i havent asked dp about a meet up yet,i'm trying to pluck up the courage cos im really worried how he'll respond given the crap ive been on at him about for the past few weeks

i registered Elsie when she was 5 days old,but they still sent me a letter asking why i hadnt registered her within the 6 weeks.i just ignored it so ive been expecting the coppers to turn up at any moment!

Can I have the whole bottle please?

I would really like your collective wisdom as I'm tearing my hair out. I try and get Elliot down around 7pm every evening. I've done it ever since he was 2 weeks old because frankly if I don't get a few hours to myself every day it does my head in. Trouble is he doesn't settle so instead of three hours, I get one or maybe 2 at the outside. He just cries and cries and cries for anything from 40 mins to 2 hours. I do the same bedtime routine every evening and he starts wailing the moment I put him down. I've tried picking him up/comforting him while he's lying down, swaddling/not swaddling, putting him in different positions, singing, shh/pat and giving him a dummy. That makes it sound like I'm chopping and changing all the time but I've tried to be consistent but when he just cries and cries for a couple of weeks, I try something else. The only thing I don't do (well very rarely) is get him up and bring him out here to fall asleep on me.

I really thought he'd be starting to settle down now - he's over 9 weeks but he still won't go to sleep easily anywhere except on me or if he's in his pushchair/sling or in the car.

Any ideas? Should I just give up and let him fall asleep on me? I don't have an issue with leaving him to yell (within reason) if it'll work - I just can't carry on like this. I'm worried I'm going to lose my temper with him

foxcub-I live in Berkshire near Ascot

sounds tough, sazzybee, is he like that every night? lots of questions . . . is he maybe overtired and that's why he won't settle? or the opposite - not tired enough? with em we have to hit a period of 1.5 to 2 hours since her last sleep or it doesn't work as well. she also has to have a bedtime routine of a good half hour of scream before during and after bath/massage - tires her out nicely. I did the bed thing one night without the bath and she was up til 11 !!!!! I don't think the whole cc thing is recommended til at least 9 months but others might disagree. can you feed him on the bed then cuddle him up next to you and then sneak out when he's asleep? or hold his hand while he falls asleep? or won't he go for that? I remember getting so so cross with ds2 when he wouldn't go to sleep at night. so lots of sympathy and empathy coming your way

sazzy mine is 9 weeks and not going to sleep until between 11 and midnight. She spends all evening feeding so I wouldn't get away with putting her down as early as 7pm. As it is I've sneaked away for 5 mins on the computer to try out our new router DS2 just installed (fast connection again- wahaay!) and I can hear DH above my head pacing the floor which means she's screaming again.. She goes to sleep only on me/ with me.

Yeah - pretty much every night although he's worse when he's overtired. Last night he'd been awake since 2.30 and he screamed and fussed from 6.30 till 9.30. So today I made sure he was only awake for just under 2 hours before I put him down and he didn't go to sleep till just gone 9. Maybe that's still awake too long? He's definitely tired - he's rubbing his ear and grizzly.

I've stopped bathing him because he gets so hysterical it seems impossible to calm him down afterwards.

I feed him on the bed (it's the last thing I do) and then sit next to him stroking his head or just with my hand on his back till he dozes off. What happens a lot of the time is that he dozes off when I'm feeding him, I kiss him goodnight, he goes down like a lamb and sleeps for about 1/2 an hour and then he wakes up and really kicks off. I've tried cuddling him too.

Thanks for your sympathy morocco - sorry if it sounds like I'm rubbishing all your ideas. Maybe I should try a different kind of bath - I've got a tummy tub and he really doesn't like it so maybe I should trying bathing him in the bath.

evenhope - how do you eat then? or do the washing up or anything? I don't know, perhaps I'm being totally unrealistic.

Because there's just me, no one else can take him from me to give me a break.

Just popping in from the April thread as my DD was born 27 March so I thought I'd check in and see what you March ladies were up to! Pleased to see that you don't have miracle babies (like the 8 week old I met this week!) who go to bed at 7pm every night and sleep for hours and hours! I've made an abortive attempt at a bedtime routine this week (DD 7 weeks) but think it's just too early as she seems at her most hungry / fretful in the evenings .

dont worry about rubbishing all my ideas, lol sazzybee!! every baby is so different. I really remember that frustration, all you want is a tiny bit of free time to yourself and it's so aaaaargh! when they start crying again.
what's he like when he wakes up then? does he settle back down again with another feed? sorry _ I can't remember if you are bf or not?
keep repeating - it's only a phase - and have a big glass of wine. hope you get a good night tonight

Shanks/Muppet - Im in Ricmond - very accessable from M3, M4, A4, south or north circulars or M25 No need to go near London

Sazzy - sorry I can't advise on sleep as I am a model of bad parenting. I lay or sit next to Monti on my bed until he dozes off, then run away very quickly as soon as he sleeps.

Re. the bath - have you got one of those little seats to put in his bath? They are the most amazing things, as they make baby feel secure and in control. Monti loves his - he sits like a little king in it and we all pour warm water over him gently with cups. He cries when I take him out of the bath.

sazzy - when he falls asleep when your feeding him, he's probably not full. Have you tried waking him up again and again until he is completely incapable of staying awake? I have to wake Monti several times each feed, but sitting him up, burping, nappy changing etc or he'd go off with only half a feed inside him. Also, undress him so he's cold when feeding and won't fall asleep so easily. Sounds a bit cruel but it works.

sazzy - the nearest stations to us are: Kew gardens (Silverlink or District Line), North Sheen (overland) or Richmond. Kew and N Sheen are much closer than Richmond though.

OMG everyone is coming round - that means I have to tidy up

sazzy-i dont know what to suggest as you are already doing everything i would have said.i just use a normal baby bath (i think it was ds2's originally)and they've all loved their baths.maybe you will just have to cuddle him to sleep and do cc when he's older.

i stopped putting Elsie upstairs when she started with that cough,so im going to have to start that one again soon,but then i have the baby monitor issue,and dd2's been waking due to teething.

I've not had too much trouble getting Elsie into a routine,ds and dd2 got into a routine quite quickly as well,but i think thats because the daytimes are busy and noisy,we are backwards and forwards to school etc,then the older children are all in bed by 8pm so theres an obvious difference iyswim.

thank you fox - all useful tips. I will get a different bath i think as he likes sitting in his chair and also quite enjoys nakedness now

I do lie next to him until he falls asleep but after I run away, he wakes up again! I feel better now after an hour or so of peace - ahhh calm

He is an absolute angel at night though - wakes for a feed, feeds pretty well and goes straight back down again and often only wakes once. So I shouldn't moan really. That crying just sets my teeth on edge though and it does my head in when nothing I do seems to make any difference.

Right - will stop being boring and banging on about it and let someone else get a word in edgeways.

I'm on the silverlink so if Kew is near you, that's dead easy for me

and diva too

time to ditch the tummy tub I think - he doesn't like being suspended over it (and I don't like it either which doesn't help)

omg, you lot can talk

I heartily approve of thread title

I'm very of meet up

Sazzy, I personally wouldn't worry about the 'routine' 9 weeks is still very young and all babies are different.
It will happen, just not as quickly as you'd like maybe. I get an hour between last child down and my bed time. Pretty crap, I know, but what a lovely hour it is

Hello again!

Don't know how you lot find time to post. Huge respect to those of you with more than one child: one baby and a dog is enough to keep me constantly on my toes!

Hi sazzy. The Sears book says that babies have on average 20 minutes REM sleep before they fall into deep sleep, and will then be in a deep sleep for about an hour, then return to REM sleep for another 10 minutes during which time they'll wake up really easily. I don't put Jonny down until I know he's totally full, winded, and completely, floppily asleep. That way I know I'll get few hours before the next feed. I know they're all different: maybe he gets colicky at night? I'd give up on the controlled crying thing and rock him into a deep sleep. Go easy on yourself! It must be so much harder doing it on your own.

Jonny is still wonderful. He was 2 months old yesterday. I've given up trying to post a photo. I even tried to download the Windows software to reduce the size but it didn't work. Suffice it to say, he's beautiful.

He generally goes down by about 8pm, but tonight he was really grizzly. I actually think he's pre-teething. It's a month early, but his poo's gone runny, he's dribbling and mouthing all the time and he's grizzly. Up until now he's been a really sunny baby. Does it ever happen this early?

Got my NCT reunion tomorrow night. I've expressed a load of milk so I can get proper squiffy. Fantastic.

Hope to get on and chat more. We have good and bad days, but generally things are settling a bit more, so I should have bit more time. One problem is I need two hands to breast feed, as my norks are so huge and floppy now, so no feeding and typing.

So who's BFing and who's FF? Do you FFs find yourselves freer? My friend BF her first and is FF her second, and says she's really enjoying having her body back.

I'm solely BFing and - while I'm enjoying it - it is hard work.

Anyway, must go to bed for a refreshing 2 hours sleep before the next feed.

La la.

xxx

p.s. Foxy: I watched a programme about the British Museum tonight and there were two Tasmanian Aborigones reclaiming ancestral ashes. Anything to do with your DH?

foxcub-I may be able to drive there,Richmond is not far at all.As Im not too keen on driving,my other option is train,how far are you from Richmond station?

hi boo!

im ff.i dont know if it makes any difference as i cant remember what bf was like.my milk hasnt totally dried up yet anyway so i havent 'got my body back' yet,as it were.

do you have a camera phone?this site likes the size of my phone-pics.

i find the time to come on here as i allow myself 'coffee breaks',when ive been playing with the lo's for a while and nobody needs feeding or changing i put dd2 in the travel cot and Elsie in her chair and have a 20 minute break while i drink my brew

happy bday johnny!!
ems is now in 3-6 month stuff at 8 wks so is a big fatso , i have same prob with photos!, what am i doing wrong??
am also bf and finally its all going well. today she was having a great time feeding - so cute - she smiles and coos at my boobs. ilike being able to just grab a nappy bag and head out without all the hassle of bottles but I've never really ff so
maybe it isn't such a big deal? btw, thanks for the advice on the breastpump and sterilising - it's much much easier using the cold water sterilising. the ds's are fascinated by the whole thing and watching the milk coming out. reminds me of the trips to the working farm

hehe, Morocco... the breast pump is an amazing thing to watch at work .

Can somebody tell me more about the seats that you are using in the bath? Kate is not far off out growing her baby bath (lengthwise) so I need to look at other options. I'm thinking about just showering her more often because filling the bath for lil her seems like a lot of waste??? Anyways... seats info pleez

perfick location Fox... my oldest mate here too and she is a chef at Kew Bridge. We might stop by hers on the way home .

have just posted a thread about amber bead teething necklaces if anyone interested. told my d it was all hippie bs, and then i googled it HATE rowing with him

sazzy, due to my dp job he is out til gone midnight sometimes, so i am alone a lot with the baby. i feel for you as its v tough. we don;t have a routine as such, i let him fall asleep on his feeding pillow which is on me, then he goes to bed in my room. this is so he is on me, but not, iyswim

i did notice early on that he slept anywhere but bed-not surprised as its a hard waterproof matress! and recreated the soft duvet/ my tummy by sticking his sleeping bag which he hated anyway under a flannel sheet and he sleeps on that.

i stay up with the monitor on. i have done this since i left my bed after my c section! i alswys put him in his basket of he is asleep. i don;t bathe him at night, but we do start winding down about 6.00-watch chefs on telly, i put him in his chair in the kitchen and cook/eat really fast ( i prep in the day) then its back to the living room for last feed and fall asleep. no nappy change if he is asleep though! good luck, hope he gets better.

dd3 tends to feed on and off from about 5 to 10pm but then she sleeps through til between 5 and 6 so we have some sort of routine slowly starting to happen. DUring the day - no routine - she is out and about with the other two and their commitments like school, kindy, play group, therapy etc.

kiwi we use one of these in the big bath, dd3 loves it. In fact I have used one with all three of the dds and they seem to like it.

here

or friends use one of these:

here