August 2021 Babies - From Santa to Solids, Hohoho!

[PurplePansy05]

Here we go again!

I'd do another delightful intro, alas I've lost count which thread this is now and we all know our LO's names anyway 😁

So instead I will just say, Merry First Christmas together to you and your LOs! 🎄❤🎁

May the sleep regression pass as soon as they see Santa later this week...

...May they love weaning and may our kitchens survive...

...May 2022 be full of blessings for them and for us ❤❤❤

Oldcomers and newcomers welcome, as always! 🥰

I'll be honest girls, I don't think Leo would've been a good night sleeper if it wasn't for the fact that he gets his formula bottle then. It's must more milk at once than what he ever gets from me, so keeps him going for longer. For ages he's fed so much during the day, either cluster fed or snacked that it was really hard, his naps were non existent or short and only on me. My theory is he's become so used to that feeling of comfort from bf that it was hard for him to sleep anywhere else. I allowed that which didn't help and I think I also mistook some of his tiredness cues for hunger for the first 2-3 months. But anyway, the point is I'm convinced he would not be sleeping as he has been if I was EBF. It just doesn't fill him up for long enough to go all night, not even enough for 1.5 hr nap in the day, I get an hour out of him maybe. I know some of you are EBF and of course not suggesting you change this unless you wish to, but if sleep is a real struggle still, perhaps this could be an option to consider if your LOs are anything like mine xx

@Inmypjsagain yeah that’s what was putting me off booking the longer block of his sensory classes because it says on it that the classes will be online instead of covid restrictions mean it can’t run. Really not the same for them or you for your money 🤦🏼‍♀️ Don’t think they could do the same with swimming 😂 My Mum says they want to pay for it so I’ve provisionally booked it and as long as it goes ahead they’re going to help poor like statutory maternity waged me out and pay for it 😂 I just read some of the FAQ though, jeez 🤦🏼‍♀️ You can get an underwater photo taken if you attend the slot they take them at for only £175. Such a bargain 😳 There is also the implication that they HAVE to wear the water babies happy nappy. I already have the exact same thing from elsewhere, surely they can’t force you to buy the nappy too 🙈 they know how to make the money anyway!

@RandomCatGenerator haha it’s okay 😂 I have no guarantee this will continue when he’s older so I’m just making the most of it while I can get it 🙈 I really do love my sleep a lot, hate early mornings and stay awake late at night. DH is the opposite and is always up really early, even at weekends. I don’t know if this, as well as the fact I was ‘working from home’ (doing nothing) for a lot of my pregnancy and had a lot of long lies kind of got him into my routine before we even met 😂 So many people said all the classic phrases before he was born like ‘oh get your sleep in now’ and I remember just almost tensing up dreading it 🙈 but I get way more sleep now than I did when I had to be up, showered, ready, dog walked and out to work before 8 😂 It might not even be gradual, maybe it will all just click into place and you’ll get a good run at it. My friends little boy is a month younger and was up about every hour until very recently but all of a sudden last week just sleeps all night

@PurplePansy05 definitely think there’s something in that! There’s no way he’d sleep the way he does if I was EBF, especially needing that big bottle before bed

There’s so many people near us with covid just now too! I was supposed to go to my friend’s house on Saturday night (hence the lateral flow) and it was only by chance that I made him do one too or I would have been away there not knowing he had it. It did then put another of my friends off going but everyone else went, even those that I’d seen the day before (so would have had it if I did 🤷🏼‍♀️). Don’t know what they’ll announce, seen a lot about the step 2 restrictions maybe from 27th. Lost track of what that even was. I don’t think people will stick to it as much now or will bend the rules to suit them, especially since it’s gone beyond a joke how much the government have clearly just had a laugh about the whole thing and done what they want all along 🙈

@PurplePansy05 I'm EBF-ing and it makes perfect sense that it means he's up a bit more! We've got a holiday planned at the end of January and my aim is to EBF until then, because I really can't be faffed with bottles and formula while we're away 😂 we'll start weaning when we're back, and I'm going back to work at the start of April, so probably I'll start introducing some formula then as it seems a sensible time. Plus, we're hoping to try for another next summer so I'll need my period back!

@biscuitcat next summer, wow! 😍 suppose it takes nearly a year for them to get here even if you get pregnant first try. We need to get married at some point and I was planning to have a party for it next new year and not really bother with a ceremony but after the whole covid thing winter probably isn’t a good time to plan for. We’d really want to try and have another before his 2nd birthday though

DS2 was mixed fed, and we kept the bedtime bottle for ages even after he didn't really need it any more made no difference to him :o but they are all different. And I never did any sleep training or anything like that so it might have been that he would have slept longer if I'd tried to push it somehow.

I do think there's something in the correlation, like if you bottle feed maybe you're less likely to use feeding as a tool to induce sleep in general or perhaps have more of a routine or less likely to cosleep or whatever. Apparently research shows there is no difference but it definitely seems to be linked just anecdotally.

Just got into a 4am argument with someone on peanut about using seperate mattresses with travel cots 😅

Technically you should not, but the likelihood of anything happening is quite small.

Yes, formula feeding really does seem to help with sleep. The babies I know that sleep through the night or with minimal wakes a FF or combi, breastfed babies wake up more from what I’ve gathered. Wonder why? I wonder FF babies end up drinking more?

So finally our run of good nights ended! He woke up at 2 til 3:30- he was wide awake screeching and chatting. What a shock to the system that was 😂 I know many of you have worse than this every night and I’m sorry I’m not my sympathetic! I forgot how horrible it is!!! 💤 💤 💤

@sarah13xx I think a lot of people are less scared of covid these days, as in if they catch it they catch it but I’m still paranoid! And you’re totally right about the government, it turns my stomach, people who were having funerals with limited numbers and being unable to console each other while they have “work drinks”. The thing is, apart from Christmas, I will follow any restrictions, which probably makes me a bit daft. My husband says it’s hypocritical that I’d break rules for Christmas but at another time, he thinks we should be sensible. Minimise risk as much as we can and take pcrs before seeing people rather than just lateral flows. Thinks he’s forgotten how long it takes to get results back!

@lucyrp peanut is an odd place at times! Was it with a person in incognito?

@Inmypjsagain funnily enough no. She was adamant that the mattress in travel cots isn't a mattress and is a wooden base and I'm a horrible neglectful parent for placing my child to sleep on it without purchasing a cot mattress for it. 🥴😂

Bertie that was my argument and I produced screenshots from lullaby trust and product descriptions, which and such like to back myself but apparently I'm neglecting my child by using the product as it's supposed to be 😅

….. the travel cots that say the mattress is included? Do any of them come without mattress? Honestly peanut is really an app at times. I’m in a London group (I think she posts in that group anyway) and a lady just constantly does posts updating people on her broken leg, then posting pictures of her eldest daughter, then more about her leg, no one ever replies which I feel a bit bad about but she treats it a bit like Facebook!

I meant a really odd app*

@Inmypjsagain laughing at this 😂😂 bless that woman

People are definitely less scared now and if I only got it the way DH has then that would be fine but there’s no guarantees and I think the fact I was pregnant then had a newborn I was kind of always in this heightened state of alert about it. I’m glad he was born in the summer though when cases were lower and I met most people outside or asked if they wanted to go a walk instead of coming to the house at first. If he’d tested positive and we didn’t have a baby I don’t think we’d bother going to these lengths to stay apart but it kind of makes sense not to let him catch it if we can avoid it now since his test was negative. DH is back to negative on lateral flows now, which goes for nothing but at least suggests hes maybe slightly less infectious than he was. His symptoms properly started on Wednesday and I read a thing saying you’re most infectious two days before and three days after I think so basically all of last week but we somehow didn’t catch it.

It would be good if you could get PCRs all the time and have results back straightaway. That would be one way to properly stop covid spreading but I don’t think we’ll ever get to that 😕 Even if you go for one just in case you’re technically supposed to still isolate til you get the results, which I did two weeks ago when I’d just went off my own back because my mum had it. Even allowing people to get them then if the result comes back positive you head home straight away would be better than people walking about without a PCR not knowing they’re spreading it. I think A LOT of people will now go for one on 23rd/24th to rule it out before dinner but it might mean many don’t have their results by Christmas 🙈

Waiting to hear what Nicola Sturgeon has to say at 2pm. Boris didn’t put any ministers on interviews this morning which he only ever seems to do when he doesn’t want them to deny something, for it only to be announced hours later so I think he’ll be ready to make an announcement as soon as he hears Nicola say she’s doing it

Wow, I'm not on Peanut, I feel like I'm missing out big time now 👀🍿 #fomo

That's funny, I've just been looking at travel cots and read that article I'm guessing you've referred to on Which @lucyrp, it was very helpful. I mean, they are thin, but that's because they're not meant for everyday use really. I know a lot of people who bought extra mattresses and use them every day for naps or even overnight. Each to their own, I suppose the problem arises if the mattress doesn't fit correctly or if the baby can stand up and fall out as the sides aren't tall enough with an extea mattress. Some people put blankets in travel cots for babies to sleep on though and I'm like righttt...if you don't tuck them in, that's a bit of a problem. I'm just mean and my DS sleeps on firm original mattresses 🤣 But so do I tbh, the firmer the better for me. xx

@Inmypjsagain yeah but apparently that's not a mattress... I have up after a while. It was a post thag someone else had written asking why travel cot mattresses are safer and this woman had jumped on as the first comment and said it's not a mattress you have to buy one blah blah and I said sorry but the above advice is incorrect etc etc and she came at me 😅 none of them come without a mattress. My son always used to sleep better in his travel cot than his actual cot 😂

@PurplePansy05 I mean the travel cot is made to be used as it is bought. Why would you then go out of your way to buy a bigger mattress which would be difficult to travel with and kind of defeats the whole object of. "Travel cot" 😂

I am reassured I’m not the only one with a baby who doesn’t sleep through! I was getting a bit worried that Solomon was an outlier from some of the magical sleeping babies here! Those of you who are so lucky, I am very happy for you, genuinely. Those in a similar boat to us, I’m glad we aren’t alone!

Interesting that size maybe isn’t it, @biscuitcat - that’s really interesting to know.

In other news, I’ve just booked my flight to move back to the U.K. - !! It feels quite real now after a few years overseas. Got a lot of stuff to give away or sell before we leave. DS is only small but he’s outgrown so many clothes and is reaching the limit of the Snuzpod…

On travel cots, it is interesting - they do feel very hard but specifically say they’re to be used as they are. I mean, the peanut poster is clearly wrong. That said, I have been guilty of putting a towel or quilt under the sheet so that the travel cot is softer And I’ve noticed some hotels do the same - some making the mattress very soft indeed!

Ps @Inmypjsagain glad I made you smile. He’s alright, I suppose. Reckon, on balance, I’ll probably keep him.

The problem with travel cots is that they have mesh sides. A normal cot is made of wood so it doesn't matter how thick your mattress is, nothing can go down between the mattress and the bars. But with a mesh sided cot, you've always got movement there so with anything except the very thin mattress that comes with it, there's a risk their body could slip down into the gap and get stuck and then the mesh or corner of mattress is putting pressure on their airway.

Ah, so, @BertieBotts, technically I know that’s the explanation but I can’t see how that risk would manifest itself in reality, not in any of the travel cots I’ve seen. It must be a very very very small risk?

Thanks for the new thread I was wondering why the other one was quiet 🙈
@BertieBotts we had a every 3 hours out sometimes only 1.5/2 hours sleep pattern error ds until about 18 months when we did also train. For my sanity I had to. Ds was literally walking the second we put him down or stopped pushing the pram all night and I was also teaching full time from he was 6 months old.
Dd did sleep better until she got the cold about 6 weeks ago and since then sleep has been a disaster. It did also coincide with leap 4, 4 month sleep regression, travelling abroad and teething so I'm still clinging to hope I might get my sleeper back!
We seem to be on cold number 2 now and for tooth it just about through,. And I think I see number 2 just below the surface too .
Both kids currently asleep in their beds (for now) and I kinda need the loo but do not want to wake either of them by moving 😂 the joys of sharing a bedroom for 4 weeks
@sarah13xx did you see on sky news they are talking any maybe reducing the self isolation from 10 days to 7 providing you take a lateral flow and it comes back negative as they think you aren't infectious any more if I are symptom free and testing negative on lateral flow.

I did have a mattress for my travel cot bought separate but we didn't have a choice but to use the travel for for 2.5 months fit ds as he was too long got the Moses basket and his cot didn't fit in our bedroom so it was a more permanent fixture. We actually probably used it about 4.6 months as don't think I moved ds out until about 8 months due to the lack of sleeping. But mine said you could use an additional mattress providing it was tight to all sides and have set dimensions.