August 2021 Babies - Running on Caffeine and Baby Smiles

[PurplePansy05]

Welcome to the chattiest post-natal club on MN!

We have welcomed 31 gorgeous new babies together 💖💙 ...

We have filled up several more like a hundred threads in the antenatal birth clubs chat...

...and now we have finally graduated and officially moved to the postnatal birth clubs chat! 🥳

Graduates of the August 2021 (and thereabouts) thread:

@Smurf123 & baby Sophia 💖
@wimbler & her baby boy 💙
@Jessicapebbles & baby Ebony💖
@Inmypjsagain & her baby boy 💙
@PurplePansy05 & baby Leo Alexander 💙
@WinterBabyof89 & baby Rosie 💖
@Winecoffeeteamum & baby Emily 💖
@Ready2020 & baby Rowan 💖
@Magik01 & baby Isaac 💙
@Hoares3 & baby Ellis 💙
@Daffodil21 & baby Elliot James 💙
@sarah13xx & baby Freddie 💙
@MrsB2019x & baby Ella💖
@biscuitcat & baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername & baby Arya-Nyah 💖
@notinthestarsigns & baby Erin 💖
@Aaaaa1519 & baby Anum 💖
@Angelesque & baby Isaac 💙
@Millymay13 & baby Ethan 💙
@WolfMother326 & baby Alasdair 💙
@BertieBotts & baby Alex 💙
@RandomCatGenerator & baby Solomon 💙
@lucyrp & baby Evelyn Rose 💖
@HopefulB & baby Chloé 💖
@Mmr224 & baby Alasdair 💙
@Smallbean27 & her baby boy 💙
@Fran919 & her baby girl 💖
@Caz1226 & baby Dougie 💙
@Ava50x & her baby boy 💙
@dirtyfries & baby Frankie 💖
@ame88 & baby Lily 💖

Tagging @Dia12, @livingwithbees, @Sheisfee, @Alittlexmasmagic and @LottSE20 in the opening post so you know we're here as and when you wish to rejoin/share your updates 💐

Here we go!

@Ready2020 there is no way dd would fall asleep if we put her to bed awake, it would be amazing if she did but I know it would just never happen at this stage, she just needs to be held. Hopefully that will come for us further down the line, but at the moment she is either rocked to sleep, falls asleep in the carrier, or sometimes she will fall asleep just sitting on me/dh after a feed. If we could just get her to fall asleep in the pram so that I can take her for a walk to fall asleep for one nap I would be happy with that! I do worry about whether we are making things harder for the future because she doesn’t self settle but I figure she’s only so little still and we’ve just got to do what works for now.

Wake windows as mentioned by @sarah13xx are a really helpful guide for us though. I found a few weeks ago that dd was often staying awake for most of the day and was then so overtired by the evening. I now actively try to get her to sleep after an hour or so of wake time, with the aim of her being asleep after an hour and a half, and this has made such a difference to how she is in the evenings. Like @sarah13xx, on days where this is not possible we often get the screaming later on again.

Also thanks about the coat, dithering as to whether to go for actual size or one down.

DD can only manage 45 mins to an hour of awake time before she becomes a nightmare and is overtired. If I miss the time to put her down for a nap I immediately know. She will go to sleep pretty much anywhere most of the time which I know we're lucky for. We also use a dummy which is probably helping as I can put her down in her crib awake with the dummy and she'll send herself to sleep. She normally spits it out and doesn't want it back during the night 🤷🏼‍♀️

DS2 was out of his carrycot by 8 weeks. It being wintry is good as you can bundle them up with blankets or a pramsuit or stick a cosy footmuff on the buggy.

@notinthestarsigns dd was the same, we had to rock her to sleep. We were able to wean her off when she was older by just rocking a bit less and a bit slower gradually. It’s absolutely a case of doing whatever works for your own sanity so don’t feel pressured to change something if you don’t want to. I was a big fan on bouncing on the yoga ball to get her to sleep. Saved my back and legs massively!!

Ds is completely different and doesn’t really like being helped to sleep. He likes his own space and gets more upset if I try and hold him. Just goes to show how every baby is different!!

Can I ask a question to those of you who have older DCs already, please? Leo is on track with his milestones (well, according to various books and the internet that is!). In fact he seems 2-3 weeks ahead although I know they are only rough estimates anyway. However, I've noticed he doesn't turn his head towards sounds. He can turn his head from looking at me to looking at DH depending on which one of us speaks to him at the time. He would also react startled to sudden unknown noises and he loves music, it seems to get him all excited. Chats a lot to himself and to us too, we get little laughs as well. So I sort of think that's great and no need to worry, but what he doesn't do is for example if I hold a toy making sound or say clap my hands or click my fingers to the side of his head, he wouldn't turn towards it. Is it something to be concerned about or too early for this? He's 11.5 weeks now. I just wonder if he's only reacting to visual clues + sound and if that's normal xx

@PurplePansy05 I've been wondering the same with my DS. Sounds exactly the same as here!

Thanks @wimbler, and that’s really interesting about the difference between your two, it’s very easy to feel like your baby is a certain way because of something you are or aren’t doing but it is important to remember that every baby is different and what works for one won’t necessarily work for another.

I can't believe how much they all vary either @notinthestarsigns. It kind of makes me feel less guilty for not having ready any books yet 🙈

@Ready2020 I didn't mean to suggest that leaving your DD awake in bed crib will work for you just because it mostly works for my DS - I just wanted to say that I would try leaving her in case you felt bad doing so. Sorry if it came across that way.

Not sure what a bed crib is 😂

@PurplePansy05 I wouldn’t worry about it at the moment. As long as he is reacting to you and smiling I’d say everything is ok. It’s so hard not to worry about milestones and compare to others but from experience, most get there in their own time. Dd was a late roller, sitter etc but an early walker. She also never crawled and instead bum shuffled around. We also felt she was later talking compared to some of her peers but nursery have always assured us she’s bang on track. She’s nearly 3 now and a right chatterbox.

@PurplePansy05 yes the same with my DD. I was getting worried about that and mentioned it to OH yesterday. We know she's not deaf though as she gets startled.

@Daffodil21 oh don't worry about that at all! It's definitely something to try though as we never give her the chance to lie in her cot at night, more just weigh in with the usual war preparation lol.

We've left DD with my mum this afternoon. We're away to a retail park to do some shopping and quick lunch. Quite nervous about leaving DD with her tbh as despite having 3 other grandkids she's not looked after a baby since having her own children!

Thanks girls, that's reassuring xx

A is definitely way more interested in people talking than sounds of any other kind, and we have a lot of those there with a toddler around! I don't think he'd turn his head towards toy sounds but he does if we talk to him.

Wish us luck tonight! I'm already stressing. DD is going down in the travel cot in the bedroom from now on. I've ordered another mattress to go in it but tonight she'll hopefully be OK in the one that comes with it. I really hope she sleeps ok in it. She's used to the pram downstairs for her long sleep.

Well that's her first wake up! She pretty much never wakes up after going down. OH is settling her. Wonder how many of these we'll do tonight.

@Ready2020 is it wise to use a mattress in the travel cot that's not meant for it ? The mattress that comes with it is perfectly fine, it may not look "comfortable" but that's what babies are supposed to sleep on ? I've seen people have this debate before and the overall answer was not to use something that's not meant for the travel cot x

Well it's on order so if she sleeps OK without it then I'll return it. I did hear that too.

I've always wondered whats the point in these mattresses being available if we can't use them. They are approved for use.

My in laws have a travel cot and we use an additional mattress with it whenever we have used it (only a handful of times to be fair) I think it’s one of those advice vs risk scenarios. No one I knows follows every bit of advice or guidelines to the letter. If you’re sleeping next to it or have a monitor where you can see they’re not trapped down the side, personally I wouldn’t see a problem. But then we leave ds to sleep on his own for 3+ hours every night before we go to bed so 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Ready2020 good luck for tonight. If you have a rough night try to persevere. Trying it at the weekend is always a good time to try something new as usually both parents are around the share the burden of a wakeful night without the pressure of having to go to work.

@wimbler we do that too at night before going to bed. He has his snuza hero alarm and the baby monitor on so any tiny sound or if he was to be sick all of a sudden we’d be in there. I was a bit wary about doing it at first though, think we’ve only properly done it since about 6 weeks

We bought a second mattress for our travel cot and I only later found out they aren't approved, oops! I think the issue is that there's nothing stopping the mattress producers from producing the product and marketing it, a bit like cot bumpers really, as long as people buy it they will sell whether they are an increased risk or not. If you look in the manual of the travel cot it probably does say in there about not using extra mattresses. We didn't have a problem with ours but I know that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a risk, it's just because the sides are mesh so they have the chance to move away from the mattress and create a gap.

She looks so comfy in there anyway with all that space to stretch out!

We've been doing naps in the swing the last few days. I had to put it in the cot the other day to stop the toddler getting to it :o

I thought some people use travel mattresses to put on the floor (for toddlers not babies) or to put in these mini tent type things for babies to sleep in (sorry I don't know the proper name for it). I've actually had that consideration because we're going on holiday when DS will be around 10 months old and theoretically a travel cot is available but then I won't know its weight/height/age limit so not sure about using it. I think some people travel with travel mattresses because you don't really know how used/soft/clean the one in the holiday place is. But then you don't know the exact dimensions either. I don't know. I'll be worrying about that next year! He'll probably end up in bed with me and DH will sleep in the other bedroom! xx

That's us up for the usual feed. Roughly the usual time. OH had been in with DD and said he had to put her dummy in a couple of times as she was unsettled but she didn't wake again. She would usually be in a deeper sleep and not need the dummy so hopefully that will improve over time and her getting used to it.

My only problem now is getting her from me back into the cot but still asleep as I'll need to scooch over the bed with her in my arms. I didn't buy the version with the drop down side!

Oh and I actually managed to sleep a bit in the spare room! I bought rescue remedy today and used it before bed. I'm not convinced how effective it really is but it must have done something. Placebo maybe.

We used a mattress in our travel cot for ds as it was his main bed for quite a while. I thought the advice was our was fine as long as it is a good fit and snug at all edges so no space for baby to fall in a gap etc.