The March-ers 2019 - Baby Talk #3

[Angelmiracle]

Thread 3 mamas

@Jenlou1992 how much does Rose nap during the day, and what time do you put her to bed? The reason I ask is because Elliot was the same, and I went on the hunt for advice and discovered a group on fb called Desperately Seeking Sleep. It's a girl called Georgina May who studies baby sleep and says that being "overtired" is a myth and that if they are wakeful through the night they may need much less nap time in the day. Well, I put it to the test and started limiting his naps, keeping his afternoon one at about half an hour, and he has had a few nights now where he has slept 6 hours straight! Which is unheard of with him! He had literally never done that.

@Jenlou1992 Oh, you poor thing. Just wanted to chip in with what we're doing re: naps, as they do affect the night sleep a lot. Our sleep consultant advised it's best for babies to have a routine at this age and not go by wake windows anymore. So, A. wakes up at 7:30 (well, he's in a sleep regression right now, so it's often 6:30/45), then first nap 10:00-11:30 and the second nap at 14:30-15:30. Bedtime 19:30 (but falls asleep around 20:00, tbh). After that he usually sleeps through now, unless he's sick.
Controlled crying is rough. I felt terrible. I still do whenever he's struggling to fall asleep. But he sleeps much better and he's much happier. If you can afford it, I'd recommend a sleep consultant, as it gives you some peace of mind during the process. Because there will be a stage when you won't know if what you're doing is right.

Also a question for all. I'm getting quite anxious about my little one's communication skills. He's 10 months and a few days. He's not using words like dada/mama yet. He learns things then stops doing them in a few days. Like, he started clapping more than a month ago. Did that for a week or so, then stopped and he hasn't clapped since. I clap for effing everything. He just gives me a blank stare. He then started waving. But he doesn't connect the wave to saying hello or bye and doesn't ever do it back, when I or someone else wave at him. On the other hand, if I put him on the changing mat and ask him what we're doing, he'll sign changing sign and responds to "how tall you're gonna be" by stretching his arms.
I'm already stressed about his delayed sitting (he still flops down quite a bit as he loses his balance a lot and can't sit back up from side), so that doesn't help.
He seems pretty switched on, cruises happily around the furniture, no issues with pulling himself up to standing. But he should be able to point to the nose or hand by now, no? What am I doing wrong?

@Sheeni no we are the same. Since you've seen that he can clap, you know he has the ability. Elliot does things for about a week and then completely stops because he is focusing on something else. He has only just started waving bye bye and he'll be 11 months next week. And he chooses who he will do it for very carefully lol. He doesn't point (which my friend's lo didn't do for AGES). I'm not worried because I know he is just focusing on one thing at a time. As for speaking, he'll go through phases of saying either dadadadada, or gagaga and then stops talking altogether while working on another thing. Clearly a man, unable to multitask lol. It sounds like your little dude is just doing the same and choosing what he concentrates on. Elliot had been clapping CONSTANTLY and then one day just stopped and I thought uh oh I've broken him 🤣

@Jenlou1992 that sounds tough! We've found that our baby talks/whimpers in his sleep recently so we are awake listening to him on the monitor thinking he sounds distressed then he's actually sleeping. We've also stopped feeding him in the night now I've stopped breast feeding. We thought he'd wake up for milk but he hasn't... That said, he still wakes up every few hours and that'll be a good night, and that's without doing it alone and being back at work. We also changed his nap schedule in Dec which has helped as we think he was going to bed too late which then made it hard for him to sleep, since putting bedtime back an hour it's been much easier.

I'm assuming you guys have all had the one year review questionnaire then?! Our appointment was supposed to be next week as he will be 11 months but I moved it... To give him more time to do the things he's "supposed" to be doing that he doesn't do like waving. I think it must be odd for them to have hi and bye as the same action but different words. Like @brobot said though I'm not too worried as developmentally I think he's fine. He's just a solitary, serious human like his dad.

@Brobot thanks, that actually put my mind at ease a bit. I've been trying to do a bit more playdates, in hopes he picks things up from other babies. We can't do classes or groups at the moment, as all of those in our area coincide with his naps.

@cardboard33 no questionnaire here. There's a questionnaire?! Omg, that's gonna freak me out even more I bet! I think I'm stressing out unnecessarily. We are a multilingual family (3 languages), so he must be even more confused. Also, he might be a bit like me (poor child), and he's just not interested in things he learns to do passably well already. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Oh well, once he gets older, I have plenty of craft stuff he can try, lots of music and sports equipment that might come handy if he decides to try something new again and so on

@Sheeni Sounds tough with the nap schedule, I'd go crazy if we didn't go to classes... I try to do something every day for me, never mind him. Are there any play cafes near you? Or any other carers you could ask? We go to one usually every week and they tend to be open for longer periods. My baby is a serious people watcher and I'm convinced he decides to try something new after seeing his friends do it, so definitely keep up the play dates. With the questionnaire thing, maybe it's depending on your area? Here we get an "ages and stages" sent in the post that you have to fill out and take to your one year review saying yes/sometimes/not yet. It's then split up into different areas like fine motor skills, communication etc with around 5 things on the list, some of which mine is nowhere near doing but then others he is.. I don't think any baby is expected to be proficient in all of them though so I wouldn't worry if/when you do get it as some of them I've literally not seen any babies around his age do.

@cardboard33 in my area it's a 9month - 12 month assessment. Emerson got booked in for 9 months and 1 week ha. It's not as scary as I thought it would be. They look at the whole thing rather than "they can't do this one thing there must be something wrong"

@whatalearningcurve Interesting!! it's called a 9-12 month review here too and we got the letter telling us to book the appointment the day after he was 9 months. I phoned and they said he couldn't actually do it until he was 11 months, so not overly sure why the letter referred to it as a 9-12 month review. The questionnaire says it should be completed between 11 months 0 days and 12 months and 30 days, however.

Originally we were booked in for 11 months and a couple of days but then I had to change it so he's got a "better" date of 12 and a half months so hopefully he will display more skillzzzzz by then, hehe, although I fully get that it's about the whole child not their "skillzzzz".

Thanks for your replies

Rose wakes around 7am , first nap between 9 and 10 and then another one between 1 and 2. And goes to bed between 7PM and 8PM. Obv the times change depending on wake ups etc. She eats 3 meals a day . Breast feed between 4 and 5 times a day and in the night it varies how many times . She has just turned 10 months and got her first tooth . I dont think it's the teething as she has been like this from day dot really.

When I'm on a night shift she will take formula and I go back on my break and feed her around 3am . She isn't awake most of the time and I just latch her on .

I've never left her longer than 5 minutes to even try self settle so think I am partly to blame but just cant listen to the cry .

I got the questionnaire. Not read it as I had heard already what was on it and I think its ridiculous to judge babies so young. They go at their own pace so I wouldn't worry about it . I think unless you personally have a concern then I wouldn't worry otherwise
X

Hi all

Hope you're all well. We had a call on Thursday last week asking if the HV could come on Monday to do his 12month check. She apologised for it being last minute and said she would post the questionnaire through the door. She accidentally posted the 11 month to 13 month one as well which I completed in a panic as he could hardly do any of the stuff on that one (stand up by self and take some steps without holding on to anything, throw a ball, scribble on paper etc).

Anyway turns out I didnt need to fill that one in and the one we used was 9 months til 10 months 30days. It was all ok in the end so I was worried about it for nothing really.

There were some things that I'd never noticed him doing such as putting a toy down without dropping it and letting go. As in I've never noticed whether he places it down or just drops it so i put sometimes indyrad of yes if I'd caught a glimpse of it. And does he try and grab a raisin out of a clear plastic bottle?We hadn't done that with him so I didnt put anything and he got a 0 for that.

So we got a lower score for the fine motor skills section but she said when she was actually here that she noticed loads of stuff such as trying to put his hand in a shape shorter to get a shape out, lifting flaps in his book etc that meant he was actually fine on that part. She said they only ask a certain number of questions which you may never have noticed them doing but then they can do other stuff which they dont ask so not to worry. As @WhatALearningCurve found, they tend to look at the baby in front of them and other little bits they do rather than just focus on the questions.

They weighed him and measured him too and he has only put on 3lb since September which surprised me. But he's still following the 50th centile so I guess all ok!

For those bottle feeding how many bottles does your LO have now? George is now on 3, 7oz bottles but the HV said to aim for 2 before he is 1 and then switch to cows milk. Tbh I'm more than happy to ditch the bottles/steriliser/perfect prep stuff but not sure how to drop the lunch bottle as he already has full meals? Then just to confuse matters more she said he should be on around 20oz a day otherwise he needs vitamins. We have bought some WellBaby vitamins as he doesnt always finish all the bottles but now I'm wondering how to drop that last one?

Another question.. sorry! Does your LO let you brush their teeth? George is fine when I do his bottom two but then protests loads about the top and back. Even though he only has the two at the bottom I'd like him to get used to me brushing all of it but he clamps his lips shut!

@melissa112

We'd got down to 3 7oz over here - 1 in the day, 1 at bed and 1 in the middle of the night (but usually just having an ounce of that and going back to sleep), but since Christmas I've had a nightmare with him teething and having a cold so for weeks he just didn't sleep. He's now back to sleeping but sometimes wakes up twice for a bottle.

I'm fairly certain that I could drop the day time one (and ask nursery to do the same) but to be honest, i'd rather him have that one, and drop the middle of the night ones! He tends to down the 2pm and bedtime ones and then the night ones are hit and miss.

I had to put him on the vitamins too - but it tied in with him getting a really bad stomach (literally pooing through nappy, vest, babygrow AND sleepbag like 3 times a night and i'm not sure the two weren't linked so I stopped giving them him but i should probably start again.

I've been putting off the teeth thing because I just couldn't work out how to do it, he's got 3 now so I figured I really need to crack on, I can get the brush in when he's in the bath but any other time he's not having it. I also cant really brush them because he just bites down on the brush! Hopefully someone will be here with some more effective words of wisdom for us both!

@jenlou1992 the afternoon nap sounds a little short if it's the same length as her morning one? My baby tends to go for just over an hour in the morning, then around 2 hours in he afternoon but sometimes it can be 2.5 hours if he's really tired. Likewise, we used to start bedtime at 7:30pm but realised he was overtired. Since Dec he's been going an hour earlier at 6:30/6:45 and it's honestly made so much difference to his sleep.

@melissa112 we've got the "older" questionnaire which is why I was worrying about all of the things he's supposed to be doing. So glad I pushed back the date until he's actually one! 3lb is about 1.3kg isn't it? Mine was 7.1kg in early Sept and he's around 8.5kg now. Like you said, as long as George is tracking his percentile lines then he's fine. My baby has 5oz bottle of breast milk when he wakes up, then 5oz after his afternoon nap, then 7oz at bedtime. We've been putting vitamins in the nighttime one since 6 months, as per NHS advice for breastfed babies. I just get mine from the childrens centres though for £1.50 a bottle. Could you drop the oz in the lunchtime one until you've phased it out? Or replace it with a healthy snack? I've started sharing a banana and he's not wanted the bottle since. His dad does the teeth brushing as we do it at night, but our baby has 9 (!!) teeth now. I know initially he screamed as I could hear it on the monitor but he doesn't now, so I assume he's fine. I can ask my husband for some tips if you want?

@WhatALearningCurve Does he actually wake up crying for the bottle in the night? Maybe you could give a smaller one during the day in the hope he will get used to not drinking at night... or give him water instead? When I stopped breast feeding I assumed that my baby would still wake up for his night feed but he didn't and has now pretty much dropped the night feed. If he does wake up it's somewhere between 4.30 and 5.30 so I just give him some water as we get up at 6ish anyway.

Just wondering if anyone babies had bad nappies during teething . My LO has just got her first tooth and had bad nappies for 3-4 days. Seems to of settled now . Also she doesn't sleep great at all but is a lot worst since the emerge of this tooth . Anyone else sleep less during teething ? Just the one tooth so far and shes 10 months !!

@cardboard33 before Christmas I was getting to a point where I was about to try water. Then since Christmas it's been teething and bugs so he's genuinely drinking the bottles now. I think he might be having a growth spurt so he seems to need them (as well as eating 3 meals a day and snacks).

He's been sleeping better the last few nights so I'm gonna reassess over the weekend and I'll probably start doing less formula to water ratio to wean him off the milk at night.

@Jenlou1992 mine has terrible nappies when teething. He's 11 months tomorrow and has 4 teeth and every time one is coming through his nappies turn to mush. Apparently there's nothing medically proven to say that teething messes with their stomachs but some theories are that the extra drool they produce messes with them.

My boy is already like a human tap so during teething I could probably turn him upside down and fill a bucket ha

Hey everyone, sorry for the radio silence. I've lost the plot on keeping up with everything! How are you all?

@Jenlou1992 Agh, I really feel for you with the sleep. I can't imagine not having had some solid sleep by now. J went through a terrible patch a couple of weeks ago where he was waking A LOT in the night - he's had 3 colds back to back since December, plus conjunctivitis, and I think he was just uncomfortable. I ended up having to sleep in the spare room at the weekend and ask my husband to be 'on duty' so that I could actually rest for several hours in a row. It was BLISS. One night I slept 9 hours straight through! Is this an option for you at weekends? If there is no spare room, then ear plugs maybe?

@Sheeni goodness, J isn't doing anything much like the things you've said. I think maybe you're expecting too much? He does a lot of babbling... babababa dadadada mamammaa t-t-t-t-.... but doesn't really connect it to anything. A couple of times I thought he may have said mama and meant me, but I reckon it was just a fluke! He also says 'ello' sometimes but not connected to anything, it's just sound practising (although my 3-year-old got very excited because he convinced he was saying 'yellow', ha ha!) He can wave a bit but very belatedly (like, when the person in question has disappeared around the corner). He's never clapped, although he does tap toys together in his hands. Honestly, I don't think you have much to worry about if he's responding to other things like you've described!

Also, with those 12 month review questionnaires, I don't think the baby is 'supposed' to be doing all of them. It's just an assessment to see if they're doing enough of the things so that the health visitor doesn't need to keep an extra eye on them, I think.

@melissa112 J loves his teeth being brushed but he does try to chew the toothbrush while I'm brushing sometimes which makes it a little awkward! I sing a little toothbrushing song to him that I made up, and sometimes I hold his arms down (in a cuddle) so that he can't try to take the toothbrush away from me! Regarding bottles, he has 3 x 7oz as well. I didn't know I was supposed to drop one and I have no idea how I'm going achieve that. He has a morning one at 9am that he cries for if I leave it too late, a bedtime one that obviously I can't cut out, and one in the middle of the night that I have tried to cut out and can't! I think I'm stuck with three feeds until he starts sleeping through. I'll see what the HV says. Our appointment is right before his 1st birthday.

@Badbadbeans I am definitely overthinking it, I know. I just don't want him to be behind because I didn't know I should encourage him to do something.
I lol'd at your description of how the waving goes with you. Similar here. I think it's more the processing of the "different person" than him not knowing what to do by now.
He's started doing LOADS in the last couple of weeks, so I'm definitely not worried anymore. I think we were just waiting for a leap.

As for the teeth, with A it works if I pretend it's an electric toothbrush with the buzzing sounds and "vibrating" brushing. Just figured it out week or so ago, so he might decide he doesn't like it later, but for now we're both happy.

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the thread or posted in ages! Life has got in the way.

I'm hoping you don't mind me posting this here but I majorly need to vent and any advice would be incredibly welcome.

I'm really struggling.
G doesn't sleep during the day. If I'm lucky we'll have 2 15minute naps. To get him to sleep I have to put in a good hours worth of effort. He's knackered but just won't let himself go to sleep.
I can't get anything done.
I'm exhausted mentally.
I feel like I've completely given up who I am. I'm being worn down every day. My husband tries his best and has been doing to lions share of housework. The only thing he doesn't do is the washing. We've hired a cleaner to come once a week so I don't get overwhelmed.
I desperately want to go back to work so that I can find myself again but we can't afford to put him into nursery.
I just feel like I've suffered physically as well as mentally. Emergency c section, infection, keloid scar which is giving me a lot of jip. G poked me in the eye a few months ago and gave me a corneal abrasion which then turned into a nasty ulcer. He's just done it again in the same eye. I could cry. I can't do this anymore. He deserved better as a mother and I'm fed up of feeling like I'm failing him constantly. I need a break but my husband hasn't got any holiday days left.
I don't really know what the point to this post is or what I want any of you to say but I feel like the worlds shittest mother right now.

@AssumeItWasSomethingClever oh you poor thing, what a horrid time you have been having. You're not shit! You're really not. You're doing your best on low reserves, which is all anyone can do.

Okay. Let's look at this situation. My first baby would not fucking sleep in the day unless it was on me, which meant I could then not get anything done. I was losing my mind by the time he was 6 months so you must be really tired of it by 11 months. And at least mine slept. How is G sleeping when he does nap? J was the same for ages - tiny little 15 or 20 minute cat naps. I can't remember when he turned the corner but it definitely coincided with my MIL looking after him one day. She put him down in a travel cot in the kitchen and the moment he started stirring she went and rubbed his back till he fell asleep again. I previously had been leaving it too long to notice he was stirring, so by the time I went back in the room he was fully awake and it was game over. When you do get him to sleep, is it worth staying beside him waiting for that initial stir, to try and comfort him into sleeping longer? Once he gets the hang of it he may just be able to sleep through for longer without intervention. J now has a 1 to 2 hour nap most days. It has only started happening in the last two months though!

GREAT that you have a cleaner.

Remind me what your work situation is. Do you have a job to go back to? Do you have any options for working part time? What about child care options that aren't nursery? A friend of mine has a nanny share for her child.

The physical stuff is awful. Particularly the eye - ugh. So unfortunate. It will all heal. But it takes time. I'm struggling as I have diastasis recti that I haven't managed to get rid of and I want to do core work to get strong ahead of my surgery and I can't. It's so frustrating. I am just trying to remind myself that I'm playing a long game here.

Have you spoken to your husband aboit how you are feeling? A GP? Health Visitor? My HV was amazing with my first. Came round and sat with me while I did controlled crying with him to get him to sleep in a cot at naptime. She was so supportive and lovely. She also suggestedtaking him for a brisk walk in the pushchair to get him to drop off, which did work as a bit of a stopgap when I was desperate. I would take my mobile and when he was asleep I would stop and sit on a bench and ring a friend to chat to. I appreciate not all HV's have the time to support in this way though- they certainly don't seem.tl where I live now. But you can always ask!

Hugs to you. Keep talking. Xxx

@BadBadBeans Thank you so much for replying.
He's exactly the same. He'll sleep on me (for about 15 minutes- half an hour absolute max ) He stirs quite often and once he's decided to wake up he literally sits bolt upright as soon as he opens his eyes and that's it. There's no getting him back to sleep. Using the travel cot is such a good idea! I'm definitely going to try that. Thank you 😊
I currently work from home doing some accounts work remotely but I'm massively behind and it's getting a bit embarrassing really. I do have a job to go back to. They've told me that if I ever want to go back, my position will always be there for me. I've told them that I can't go back just yet as it would only be financially worth it to go back full time and I don't think I could do it. (Absolutely nothing wrong with working full time!! I just don't personally think it would be right for us)
I think to be honest, I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself at the moment. The eye thing has taken 4 months to heal and I've been left with a scar on my pupil which has effected my eyesight. I just feel like I'm fighting a losing battle and once one thing gets better something else crops up. I've also got to go for a scan next month to see if my coil has punctured my uterus. I know in the grand scheme of things everything health wise could be so much worse and I do feel like a bit of a whinge.
I've spoken to my husband about it and he's very supportive but not really when it comes to my emotions. He just brushes it off. I'm a bit worried about talking to a health professional in case they say it's PND. Your HV sounds incredible though!

@AssumeItWasSomethingClever ah okay, so you've got both my kids' sleep problems combined into one! Does he go to sleep in his cot all right at night? My eldest did, so my HV suggested making naptime as much like bedtime as possible. Story, sleeping bag, song, etc. Showing him that we were starting the 'sleep routine' really helped him acquiesce to the nap!

Other things you could try, if you haven't already:

• White noise
• Controlled crying
• Sleep consultant (never used one myself but I know women who have who swear by them)

He'll get there eventually but it's really hideous when you're going through it.

With work, that's very difficult. Firstly, your accounts work - is there any way your husband can set aside a half-day at the weekend for you to work solidly? I am also freelance and I find that my work gets squashed up into whenever I can fit it in. This week I've been given a load of extra work to do by the end of next month and have had to say to my husband that I need solid time to do it in, and that's obviously going to have to be over the weekend. My husband took the kids for a half day yesterday and will do the same today. And that's probably going to have to happen most weekends for the next six weeks!

Having a scar over your pupil is so unlucky and you are completely allowed to whinge and be upset about it. I would find that hard to adjust to even without the baby etc in the mix. And the coil!!!! You poor thing! You are dealing with A LOT. It's okay to be struggling. It doesn't make you a shit mum. It will get better, but right now this 'season of life' is pretty stormy, and you're living through it and that is hard.

[Edited by MNHQ: identifying info]

Hugs to you xx

@Assumeitwassomethingclever
You're not a shit mom. You're amazing if you're still coping this well under so much pressure. Honestly.
I feel your pain with the sleep. I really really do, as mine didn't sleep anywhere but on me until he was 6 months old, including during the night. Not even next to me. So I know how rough it is. I know I'm probably super annoying with it by now, but the sleep training was life changing for us. Yes, he cried, yes I felt awful about it, but with the consistency and following through with it, he's now having 2 naps - 1.5h and 1h long, and sleeps through if he isn't sick, teething or traveling. And he sleeps in his cot. We don't even go in his room normally. You can get through it without this, I'm sure. He'll eventually grow out of it. But if you're struggling so much, I think you should really consider it. Also, it takes 15 minutes for babies to go into deep sleep, so something is preventing him from doing that. And without the deep sleep he'll be so knackered. Arthur became a completely different baby once he started sleeping properly.
You can certainly try and talk to your HV. Ours was in the process of getting some NHS sleep help for us, but we had a specific time when we could do the training (husband was on leave), so we got a consultant privately. If I were you I'd talk to them about everything that troubles you, even if it's PND then it's better if it's diagnosed and dealt with. But it might just be sheer exhaustion and there might be other ways they can help - you'll never know if you don't ask.
Childcare wise - we've got a childminder. It's almost half the price of nursery and ours works with 2 more people, so she can have quite a few kids there. I think even if you work part time just to cover the childcare and have only little bit extra, or even nothing extra, it's still good for your mental health and for George's development, to do it.
I really hope things will get better for you soon. Please keep us posted. I still worry about some of the mums who were struggling earlier on and mentioned it here and then just vanished. Hope they are all ok, just getting on with their lives happily.

@BadBadBeans he'll go to sleep at night if he's laying on us. He's started going to sleep in his cot with a bottle if it's very drowsy which im quite pleased about. It's a step in the right direction. Once he's asleep though (touch wood) he sleeps really heavily and sleeps through the night. He has done since he was about 10 weeks old (apart from the 4 month sleep regression) so I haven't been to bothered about how he gets to sleep or his lack of naps until the last couple of months.
In regards to work, I do a good few hours over the weekend but then I feel bad for not doing anything with DH and DS. Somethings got to give though I guess! I'm still behind though!
Thank you for the advice about the HV the course you did sounds well worth it. I'll ask her next time it's weigh in day! Thank you 😊
@Sheeni we've been looking a sleep training. It's just the thought of leaving him to cry hurts my heart! How long did you leave DS crying for until he drifted off/ you went in to him? Sorry I have no idea what the protocol is. How long did it take him to get into the routine and for it to work? I think I'm going to look into this as well!

Thank you both for your kind words and for making me feel less shit. It really is very much appreciated! Xx

@assumeitwassomethingclever Ours was obviously different as we were breaking the habit of nursing to sleep and sleeping on me for all sleeps. For the first two nights and I think first day of naps, too, it was my husband getting A to sleep, so he didn't have the Source right there. First time was the worst. It took 50 minutes of mostly crying for him to fall asleep. Husband was in the room, next to the cot, giving couple of gentle strokes and a cue word every three minutes of crying. I was downstairs, going crazy, doing my hardest not to go in the room. I knew I'd be like that, so we actually got the consultant in overnight, as I would have questioned every cry and whimper. Husband was really glad we did, as he said he would have picked him up much sooner. You are fighting your natural instinct here and if you think you can't cope with the crying, there are consultants who claim they have success with no crying at all. I knew A would cry as we've had no success at all with the cot before the training.
He was still feeding at night then and took 40 minutes to fall asleep after the first feed and no time at all after the second. I think the second night he took maybe 20 minutes or so. And improved pretty quickly. Right now he's a pain as he takes forever to fall asleep, but he's not crying, he's just chatting to himself, hitting the sides of the bed with his fist or his head etc. Cries maybe 3 minutes? Many babies eventually don't cry at all, but he's just so clingy.
He cried quite a bit when we were traveling and he was sleeping in the same room as us and not in his usual cot.
Happy to send you our sleep plan, but I think it won't be appropriate for your situation, as George has different challenges and he's also quite a bit older, which I think affects how they react to this. But just so you have an idea of what to expect. If you want, I still have the sleeping logs I was keeping for the consultant. I can send you those as well, so you can see how he improved in the first two weeks.

@AssumeItWasSomethingClever wow, I really do feel for you. All of that must be so difficult to deal with, particularly when you've had it all come at the same time. You've had some really good advice/support here so I won't repeat it. Please please continue to post.

@BadBadBeans I was wondering what had happened with your op!! So glad you're close now. Once you have a date it will all become real and you can put plans into place. In terms of things with me, the treatment is going ahead as planned but so far I haven't had as bad side effects as we were told to expect so I hope that continues but it's a long way to go yet as I'm currently week 7 of 36 so it's literally the length of my pregnancy. I'm getting a bit of itchy feet as normally I'd have been going back to work soon so a lot of our "mum chat" has been about childcare, return to work etc. I currently feel a bit of a failure because I'm not doing that, even though I know that's irrational and it's not like any of my friends are loving the prospect of going back to work!

Getting excited and paranoid about all of the 1st birthday parties though... We've got one every weekend until the start of May now. What is everyone doing? We are having a v low key affair at our house but everyone else is hiring halls and entertainment which I think is excessive for kids who won't remember it but each to their own.