May 2007 Postnatal, sleep and smiles only please babies!!!

[Mrsjaffabiffa]

Thought it was time for a new thread.

Aw Scoot, sorry for you all..have you tried raising the mattress a little? It helps the snot go down better.

To continue the bucket seat debate, our Tesco Extra has banned the car seat trolleys so you have to put the baby in the bucket seat, but our little tiddly Tesco still has them and if I use it I can't see a blinkin thing and am a danger to little old ladies and small children. At least they are germ free (not the little old ladies and small children, who by their very nature are germ riddled)

I put saline nasal drops up A's nose when she's stuffy. She doesn't like it, but it does make her sneeze out the worst of the snot...

Hi all.

Have skimmed the thread and glad to hear that everybody is doing well.

C is doing well. She is 19 weeks old and getting bigger by the day. She was a slow starter but she's certainly made up for it.

I have started thinking about weaning her in 5/6 weeks time, can't believe that time has flown by so very quickly.

I must confess that I am a "trolley germ weirdo". I never use them - if I have to take C to the shops I use her carseat in the trolley. I suppose I can be forgiven though, since she was so ill I am quite fanatical about her health and keeping her away from germs.

Scoot - Arlen is really chesty at the mo and has been off his milk - I have scoured the chemist shelves and theres not aloy tbh - snuuflebabe, saline nasal drops and calpol, dp said a huge lump of flem came out but he couldnt get to it in time but at least its clearing - hope you get some sleep tnite - I have been giving him 4oz feeds instead of 7oz if thats any help to you, hope shes better soon, its horrible when their ill and theres not alot you can do

Party was fab - everyone had a great time - luckily there was lots of people to help with Arlen as he was pretty ill poor love, the donut decorating was brilliant, they were so artistic - if it had been me I would have just squirted as much icing and squashed as many sweets on as possible - but they didnt, dd got loads of nice presents, phew wee dont have to do it for another year - have run out of wrapping paper for her pressies tomorrow so quick dash to the shop before school opppsss

Have a good evening all

Hi Girls, how are we feeling this evening?

Just wondering about sleep. Have given up expecting O to sleep through. What about day time sleeps. Should I be trying to get O to sleep:

1. between every feed (about 45min to 1 hour); or

2. sleep once in the morning (1hour ish) and
   once in the afternoon (2 hours)

3. ???

He feeds about every 3 hours (ish)

I am hoping if I get him to sleep better in the day, the night will follow suit. Wishful thinking?

What are you all doing??

Juicy

I think at four months, the average baby sleeps around 15-16hrs a day. So that breaks down into 12 hours at night and 4 hours in the day of sleep time.

C goes down between 7 & 7.45, she sleeps through until 5/6 and has a feed and goes back to sleep until 7ish.

She has a short nap in the morning. A long nap (2hrs+) at lunchtime and another short nap (30mins or maybe more) at around four.

I have two golden rules. No sleeping after 5pm and try to feed as much as poss in the day.

HTH.

Hello everyone! We had an absolutely crazy weekend, picked DH up from work at 2 then did the school run. Fed Beau before loading up the kids and setting off for what should have been an hour and a half journey, pah! Almost 3 hours later we arrived, B had screamed pretty much the whole way, had to keep stopping to calm him down.

The venue was lovely though, fab family friendly hotel. The rooms were great and we all had dinner in the nice restaurant that didnt mind the children a bit!

Phin looked lovely in her dress, she was so cute. Jonah and Hugs fell asleep during the ceremony and B was being jiggled at the back by me to keep him quiet!

We got home last night, knackered. I drank a leetle tooo much alcohol....so was still nursing a hangover for most of yesterday! Poor B with his 100% proof milk Not bothered him though thank goodness.

Have just skimmed... MKG hope work is ok for you. I enjoy each one more and more, i worry less and play more

PMSL at the land snail Cam, Hugs has eaten a regular garden snail and i seem to remember the twins eating a worm once.

Sky mine have all sucked the straps too, nice!!!

Lups glad the party was a success, bet the donuts went down very well.

When can you give medised then? That would work for colds and knocking them out Will consult giant bottle i keep in the cupboard.

Scoot you sound busy, slow down. Get dh off that couch, have your sheets dried out?

B's routine goes a little like this in terms of sleep. He gets up between 7-8 and feeds, gets put in the car for school and will go down for a nap when we get home. Sometimes sleeping for half hour - 2 hours! Then he is awake for the rest of the day usually, maybe a cat nap here and there. Bed is at 630-7 depending on level of grumpiness. He usually sleeps all night then, long may it last!!

Have mountains of washing to do, i need an industrial washing machine

Am off to check face book now Looked here first though Scoot

Glad you had a lovely if manic weekend lg&t. Load some pic's of phin when you get chance. Medised is from 3 mths I believe?

Jorja still sleep between every feed. She does 4hrs clock work throughout the day and sleeps from 10ish - 9.30am at night. She is bginning to be awake for longer now but she still needs to sleep between each feed for at least an hour usually 2.

Scoot, I'm addicted to facebook but you lovely ladies are still my first look everymorning.

glad c is doing well djags, great to hear from you.

Dejags its good to hear from you and that C is now doing so well.

LG&T it sounds like you all had great fun, lets see some pics!

As for sleeping J goes down at night at 7pm wakes at least once and is up at 6.45 with the other two. He then can only stay awake for about an hour and half/two hours max which normally means us leaving the house for the school run with a screaming baby and a flustered mummy and a left behind PE kit/swimming bag/lunch box. He will sleep then for about an hour then awake again for 2 hours then sleep for a longer stretch in his bed, about 2 hours (if he gets the opportunity poor child) then awake again for 2 hours, then a half hour/45 mins snoozle then that is pretty much it until bedtime. I am with Dejags and feed as much as possible during the day (probably why the child is elephantine) and no sleeping after 5. But of course the pattern can change from day to day

Lups the party sounds like it was great fun. I'm looking forward to my delivery tomorrow...

Dh flew in and has flown out again But we did manage to go to the cinema to see Atonement, it was brilliant, very emotional.

Juicy - one thing is not to let babies get overtired. At this age, they will most likely be tired within 1.5 of waking up. They should be asleep by at most 2 hours of last waking. (This of course is give or take a bit depending on when your baby shows signs of tiredness). Tired signs to look for: some are obvious, grizzly, yawning etc. Also jerky limb movements, grabbing at face and arching back.

So don't get too hung up on times - it's more dependent on what time they wake up in the first place. Also, I've read that a sleep shorter than 30 mins can't be counted as a nap as there's no restorative element to it. Babies have 45 min sleep cycles, so many find it hard to nap longer than that during the day. It's a learned skill.

A will get up around 7, feed. Nap by 9ish, up between 9.45 and 10.30 depending on how long she manages to stay asleep. Feed at 10-ish, sleep around 2 hours later and so on.

I've read that the sleep they have in the morning is something of an extension of their night time sleep and their brain behaves in a different way during this nap, so I've read you should try to get them down for the morning nap sooner rather than later.

Babies should have a morning and lunchtime nap and a catnap mid afternoon. They usually drop the afternoon nap first, as they get older and able to stay awake longer. Morning nap goes during toddlerhood and lunchtime/ early pm nap stays until almost school age.

Glad to hear you had a good weekend LG&T

Sorry to hear that A is not too good Lups, but glad that the party went well

Just had Ella weighed and at 5mths she weighs 14lbs 1oz. Said to the HV about the weaning and she thinks that I made the right decision. She said that by looking at the weight chart that she was ready as her weight had dipped gradually below the 50th centile. She is now getting back on her curve. Probably also tied in with her getting more active. She suggested giving her some cool boiled water throughout the day as she seems to be struggling in the bowel department.

Hi all. I'm so glad I'm not the only one having sleep issues. Today has been an awful day. I'm so ashamed to say it but at one stage I just felt like walking out the house and getting as far away from it all as possible. R has just become the child who never sleeps during the day. I feel as if I shouldn't moan because she sleeps for 12 hours solid every night and has done for ages. It's just that I can't get anything done at the moment as all she does is cry and moan all day. She is ok if we are out and about and will sleep happily in her pushchair or in the car. She just won't sleep in her cot in the day. Sometimes she will drop off in her bouncy chair so I thought about possibly moving that into her bedroom for now just to get her at least in the right room. I know it's because she gets herself overtired and then can't get to sleep but I can't seem to break it. She gets up pretty much as soon as she's awake and has a feed and then I put her down on the playmat or in the bumbo/bouncy chair for a little play. At the first sign of tiredness I whip her up to the cot in the hope she will go to sleep. It seems to work about 2 times in every 10! I don't know what I am doing wrong and it's really getting me down now. I am going back to work 4 weeks today and I've been findng myself looking forward to it. I really want to enjoy and chreish these last 4 weeks but don't know how I am going to get through them at the moment.

Sorry to hear some of you are having sleep issues - it makes it harder to deal with if you are tired, dd was a nightmare sleeper until she was about 3- years that is not months!! she would wake at all hours and be wide awake for about 2/3 hours

AM how big is you new boot?? I am thinking of pushchairs, my bayamo is quite big, would it be easier for me to bring a sling for the meet-up, If I do bring the bayamo I dont need to bring the seat unit as the car seat clips on - one day wont kill him but no way am i carrying round a car seat and changing bag, my knees will collapse

DD has had a lovely bday, she is so poilt it is untrue, how many 5yr olds get a diamond necklace and digital camera for thier birthdays??? Got to clear her room when shes at school tomorrow to try and fit all the new stuff in, It seemed really strange not having her around today, we only really go a few hours together

LGT glad you had a lovely weekend,

Dejags good to hear from you

Cam hope your parcel arrives nice and early

I am pooped so early night for me - even tho the house looks like a bombs hit it, have a good evening all

testing testing

testing again - this better flippin work

woohooo it works - i dont have on of those little signs at the end but if you click my name it shows my profile page and pics - off to upload some more,

Oh and I dont look like that anymore - that was before I knew I was pg - but i was about 1 week pg!!

ooo my little sign is there - hehe only taken me a year lol

What lovely pics Lupins, love Willows hat. Glad shes had a great birthday

Has a venue been decided for our meet up yet?

Poor Alana has been suffering with her teeth today. She has been trying to be happy but now and again it gets too much for her. From what i can tell I think she has 3 teeth coming through. They are still under the skin but you can definately feel them. The poor little thing was so upset earlier she wouldnt even let me put her in her pushchair to go and get ds2, she just wanted to be cuddled.

She has started to roll over now although she forgets to move her arm from underneath and moans until someone comes along to do it for her Im sure it wont be long before she masters it and then we will be in trouble. As it is she manages to manouvere herself across the floor by pushing with her feet so she never stays in the same place for long. I thought i was going mad the other day, i left her under her playgym facing one way and when i came back in a couple of minutes later she had turned 180 degrees and was facing the other yet she hadnt actually shifted from the gym she was still lying in a straight line. I started to doubt myself or think someone was playing tricks on me until I saw her shift positions with my own eyes. Now she has progressed to moving along the floor and so nothing is safe. Its fun to watch though (until she starts to grab ds2's toys then all hell will break loose lol)

I am supposed to be having my hair done tomorrow but after last time Im not taking any chances. I have checked my hair thoroughly once already and even though I found nothing I am now about to put lotion on it just in case, i am also planning on getting dh to go through it when he gets in tonight and maybe again before I go tomorrow. I am so paranoid.

I am also starting my diet tomorrow. Ive been saying this since having Alana but this time i must stick to it. As well as going away soon I have also been in touch with a couple of old school friends that want to meet up and I dont want them looking at me and thinking Ive let myself go IYKWIM. Dh thinks im being paranoid, im 13yrs older and have had 3 kids since i left school so im bound to have changed but hes a man he doesnt understand so from now on its healthy food all the way, no choc, no donuts, and plenty of exercise (well when i have the energy lol)

Not sure if a venue has been decided - I dont know the area at all - so will show up where Im told to be - well wherever AM drives me anyway,

Sorry Alana has been suffering, wow 3 teeth, she will be chomping a goodn soon, its hard tho when all they want is cuddles - especially when you need to get on, and Im pretty sure you will be bug free, try not to worry about it too much, im sure they see it alot anyway, that said I know where your coming from

Dont think my little chubster is anywhere near rolling over yet - he does throw his legs about - I think he's too chubby to get over anyway lol

Right am definatly off to bed now, night night

Thanks for all your posts girls. It's a great help.

TYG - how many books have you read to know all this stuff

Our morning routine is pretty set. Up at 8.30, sleep at 10 for a nap. After that it's all a bit randome, but will bear in mind min of 30/45 mins.

sleep whats that, we are trying to combat a couple of weeks worth of bad routine and a bit of jet lag.

Am a shadow of my former self and sadly that is nothing to do with my weight.

Juicy, it gets more random with us towards the end of the day as well. It doesn't always go smoothly! I just try to keep an eye on how long she's been up.

Abbylou, it might be worth trying to get her into a nap routine using whatever method necessary to get her to sleep at appropriate times and then once you've got that down, then you can work on using the cot. A doesn't usually sleep in her cot during the day. Partly my laziness, because it's two floors up, but also because if she falls asleep in her bouncer or under her play arch; I just put a blanket over her and leave her be. "Motionless" sleep is better sleep than in a moving pram or car. It's not imperative to get her into her cot during the day. (Not according to my sleep guru anyway...)

Pebble - THREE teeth! Amazing. And rolling too. A keeps thinking about rolling over - for weeks and weeks now, but just hasn't seemed to get around to actually going over that last bit.

Dejags - I think we'll let you off for being worried about germs.

I actually managed to get A weighed the other day. 14lbs 10oz No wonder my back aches when I'm carrying her. That's interesting about the weaning and weight centiles Apirl. Maybe it's worth me getting her weighed more often than once every two months.

I got loads done around the house today - first time in ages. Hooray! Felt like I'd achieved something. Though did manage to do one load of washing without detergent. Doh. Wouldn't have bothered rewashing if it was a few dark bits, but it was all DH's work shirts. Then later on I took the washing machine outlet hose out of the pipe so I could empty the condenser from the dryer into the pipe and forgot to replace the washing machine hose. Managed to partially flood the cellar. Idiot. Luckily I heard water splashing and realised what I'd done before I emptied the whole machine onto the floor.

A had her second set of jabs. Was VERY brave; once she'd held her breath for about five seconds and screamed like a banshee, she calmed right down.

Lupins, the boot is certainly big enough for two buggies.

I am happy to go to Gun Wharf or if there is somewhere more tea & cake friendly then that is good also. I dont really know the area - am hoping i can rely on sat nav - so Pebble, mum2g and lg&t if you know somewhere better then please shout.

Poor little Alana, she must be in so much pain. Ella's tooth seems to have vanished, as mad as that sounds! She definately had a little white dot that wasnt vomit and you could feel it How bizarre.

Am taking Ella to her first Monkey Music lesson tomorrow. I dont really know anyone locally with babies the same age and feel a bit sad that she doesnt have any friends (apart from her mumsnet buddies that is). Jack has 2 friends that we know through his ante natal class, but as i didnt do them with Ella she is friendless. Off to have lunch with a lady i used to work with and then back to see how the painter is getting on. Our room first - yay!

Abbeylou - A never sleeps in his cotbed in the day - well unless I am upstairs - let sleeping dogs lie (well babies) he sleeps mostly in his buggy or swing, he hasnt got much room to sleep in either but has some of his best sleep in his buggy ,and he sleeps fine in his cotbed at night,

Thanks for all the advice guys, you're ace. Well, it's a new day and I'm determined not to let it get me down so much today. I am going to take the advice of you lot and just let Ruby sleep wherever she likes, at least that way she is getting some sleep and I can finally get some housework done! We are back from taking C to the cm so she is now in her bouncer chair and happy. I will leave her there for the time being and see if she drops off, she should as she has been awake now since 6.30am! Fingers crossed....