December 2007: It's all worth it for the smiles.

[claraquitetirednow]

I've never started a new thread before - has this worked?

Clairey - you poor thing! You really are having a tough time of it. BTW did DH take time off to spend with his mum after all?

Suey2 - I quite agree, especially some of the diseases can be dangerous if an adult get them! Wasn't there a major study recently completed which negated any link between MMR and autism?

Bouncing turtle - yes that's correct. I read about that in the news, that there was no link between MMR and Autism. However, prior reseach had shown that there was some slight link, so it's difficult to choose which research to believe.

DS still sleeping ! Have now changed the bed linen. He never usually sleeps in the day.

Have also found time to look through my wardrobe. Can fit into my old jeans! not my really skinny ones from when I was in super wedding standard shape, just my medium skinny ones.

BT yes indeed. Because there have been so many people not giving their children the MMR they could compare MMR/ no MMR and they found that the incidence of autism was exactly the same. Wakefield was acting on behalf of an autism group (thus biased) and i think he looked at 12 kids only; but i didn't read the original paper.

Feel much better for the rant I must say! Anyway it's not so bad, mil was saying she wanted to see my parents so they have taken pity on us and we are going for the weekend! Will be much easier with other people to diffuse things, plus their house is much bigger so we won't all be on top of each other. Wizz I am glad you know what I mean about the sponge-I felt really petty writing it!

Clara, the dummy is helping quite a bit. DS can't seem to just switch off when tired so has always needed a lot of pacing to get him to sleep but with the dummy it happens much faster! I'm not using it at night though yet because I don't want to get into the problem of having to get up every 5 minutes to stick it back in his mouth! Luckily he has started to settle pretty much instantly after night feeds, although I do often wake a couple of hours later and realise I'm still propped up with him on my chest! And then of course the minute I try to put him down and lie down myself he wants another feed! Can't wait til he is less windy/likely to puke everywhere and then I can feed lying down.

DD had all the jabs and DS will too. He had his bcg at 5 weeks so his first jabs are now at 11 weeks instead of 8-am looking forward to the sleepyness some of you are reporting although I don't remember dd getting sleepy.

claireybee - poor you...your MIl sounds a PITA. I am sure mine looks down on me and things what I ever I do isn't as good as how she would do it.

Evie is no wau sleeping thoguh the night...I have yet to get her to sleep in her cot (bad MN confession)....she sleepin in her rocking chair and in our bed by herself but not in her cot. I think it is because she needs feeding to sleep. Oh well - it will all work out in the end.

Who was it that has a baby that likes sleeping on their front? Is it Insy? DS much prefers this, he's been asleep for 2 hours like that and went off on his own but at the moment don't think I could do it at night when I'm not watching him.

Yeah same here, DD had all the jabs and DS will also. He's got his first in two weeks (he'll be 10wks then but just the way the appointments work).

Clairey glad you're going to your parents house, how lovely of them to have you all at once. Hope you have a nice time

Clara - hope your DH is home now and that you're having a very well deserved rest! Hope he did get you a token valentines gift too!

claireybee - poor you...your MIl sounds a PITA. I am sure mine looks down on me and things what I ever I do isn't as good as how she would do it.

Evie is no wau sleeping thoguh the night...I have yet to get her to sleep in her cot (bad MN confession)....she sleepin in her rocking chair and in our bed by herself but not in her cot. I think it is because she needs feeding to sleep. Oh well - it will all work out in the end.

Oh you have reminded me, BCG. We will need to get that organised for dd2 (dd1 had it before we took her to Jamaica when she was 5 months), on top of all the other jabs for her and for dd1 before we leave....

My DH just came back from his course, only to announce that as well as all of next week (which I knew about) he will also now be going on a course in the first week of March, 5 nights away. Am I being unreasonable to have burst into tears and told him I can't do it on my own for another week???????????? He is going to look into whether there is a course at a later date.

For some reason he didn't think it would be easier for me if he did it in June rather than now....when I am still up twice a night with a newborn and then also having to look after a two-year-old all day. At least later on the baby will hopefully be sleeping better and will be sitting up etc in the day. And I might feel a bit more normal and less hormonal.

Sorry this is turing into a bit of a rant but I was so pissed off with him. It was meant to be a lovely reunion and it's all been spoilt.

Loucee - sorry x-post, as you can see I am a bit at the moment. Hopefully will be happier next time I post.

Clara - no you are not being at all unreasonable - my DH will be away for 2 nights I think week after next and I'm so not looking forward to it, don't know how I would manage with him being away 5 nights!!!

Clairey - Yey for your dps

Suey2 - Yes I also heard original study was on 12 children too!

Wizzka - am at you and your jeans, I'm still too fat for most of my wardrobe. Well I've got an additional incentive to lose weight, my friend is getting married in November, she was supposed to get married 2 years ago and I bought a gorgeous dress, but wedding was cancelled week and half before hand due to her fiance being a cheating scumbag. She's met someone else now and they are tying the not in a Castle near Gretna. Looks fab! Anyway want to wear the dress for the wedding as I love it! But it is a size 14, was 12 stone when I last wore it, so need to lose about 2.5 stone to get in it again. But want to lose a bit more. I'm eating like a pig still but when I join Slimming World next week that should get me going, I'll still pig out but on lots of free food! Been so long since I did SW that I can't remember what I can have!

BouncingT - I've been thinking about SW too - I reckon a good 4 stone for me unfortunately but my Mum did/does SW on and of and it seems pretty easy to follow. Let me know if you're going for it and it might give me the incentive to start too - we've got a wedding in July which I'd be chuffed to get into a size 16 for (also have a posh frock I only wore once - to Queens garden party though!!) so am aiming for that - we'll have to do another forum so as not to clutter up this one with all those skinny folks out there!!!!!! Wizzka that is for you by the way - can I ban all mention of skinny jeans please

Off out for curry tonight though so will start diet in a week or so Am off the booze completely (mid week at least) in an attempt to at least start

Beanster still couldn't CAT you, how annoying! When would suit you to meet up?
I also need to lose about 3 stone, it's scary how easy it was to pile on!

Immunisations ? we?re still to have the first set, its next wed, I completely agree with all those going for everything ? there were a few in my first NCT who didn?t get their lo?s immunised and then as soon as there was a mumps and measles out break at their nursery at 16 months they rushed them to the gp?s which would have been too late anyway cause they could have already caught it! Bit ridiculous in my opinion

Clairey ? MIL sounds like a PITA, mine doesn?t say much but I?d love to know what she?s thinking because she?s very opinionated! Hope week gets better xx

Loucee ? hand up to ds sleeping on his front but it works for us although he?s gone backwards on the sleeping front, is there an 8 wk growth spurt too?? Ds1 was sleeping through by now so I?m completely lost with ds2?.

Insy snap, my DS was doing along stretch of 6 or 7 hours at night (from 7pm usually) but now back to every 3 hours and he's 8wks on Sunday. I'll see how the sleeping goes but when he woke up from that nap (2.5hrs long) on his front I could tell it was a really deep and restful sleep.

Hmmm curry is here

they have a growth spurt around the 7 week mark so might be that they have stepped up feeding because of that. Samuel now 12lb14oz (well was that on thursday). He is doing good. Bought him a little sleeping bag as he keeps kicking off covers. He has been going 4 hourly at night and usually 3hourly ish in the day although it changes so often. No really worried as will just go with flow as they change what they need as they grow. Re my weight, still have a stone to lose., Not going ot worry about it atm and went and bought myself some size 14 jeans as been making do with ex maternity and strechy size 12's.

Immunisations are booked for 26th dreading it. Also have gynae on the 27th as episiotomony not healed right and looks likely i will need to be restitched petritfied about that.

Loucee, Insy-yep a backward trend sleeping baby here too and 8w today-hopefully will sort itself out. He's feeding much more too-although i encourage that when i want to watch whole new Lost episodes

Clairey-your mil sounds hellish, hopefully your parents can diffuse the situation like you say-good luck. My mil is obsessed with wrapping ds in a million blankets saying he's cold, even though the heating's on 24 degrees!! It drives me nuts but at least we can laugh about it to an extent...

Awen, sounds grim but at least they are correcting your scar now and haven't left it. After my ep I took arnica tablets and they really helped with the swelling and healing process, might be worth getting some in for after your op

Clara-poor you and YANBU I would freak if left alone now, even though i have been single parent in the pastyou get
used to having whatever support network is around you at the time. I hope he can get a different date sorted..

BT and Beanster, I'd be up for SW too so let me know, have 12lbs to get back to pre pg then another stone to be 'normal' weight (and to think i used to be 4 stone lighter than now once, but i wasn't well in my head so i'll swap weight for mental health!)

Cazzybabs-don't worry, ds hasn't been much near his crib other than to look at his mobile-occasionally put him down in there at start of night but i find it so much easier to sleep with him next to me, feeding. And I LOVE waking up in the morning with his head under my chin, I know its not going to be forever so i'm making the most of it now

Hi all! Quick question re co-sleeping - how do you do it?! I am still a bit scared but I think it would be a good option to have even if wasn't everynight, but I just don't understand where DD would actually go?!! She is very good in her wee moses basket but it's a bit of a faff all the getting in and out of bed (how lazy am I).

beanstermummy i'm set up to CAT now so maybe you could try sending us a message rather than the other way round? Meet up will be fun!

DD has put on weight, yipee! Just a little bit but that's always something. My weight is actually back down to normal but I have always been a skinny wee runt. However it is amazing what a different shape you can be! Even though I'm not carrying any extra weight I still don't fit back in my clothes and am still wearing maternity jeans!

clairey your MIL sounds horrendous, poor you. Mine is a bit bizarre too, told me last night I should give DD (10wks) some bread....

Caz - when DD co-sleeps with me (after getting her up from her cot) she is in her baby sleeping bag ("grobag" type thing) so I just pop her on top of the duvet. No risk of sliding under the covers that way. I'm not worried I will roll on her, I think you instinctively know everyone's relative positions. But wouldn't do it if I'd been drinking at all.

From now on I'm NEVER commenting on how ds's routine is improving.
It's just all gone to pot again, and I am knackered and feeling pretty depressed.
Both Friday night and Saturday night put him to be between 7.30 and 8 took ages to settle, but finally did.
But the rest of the night he was waking every 1.5 - 2 hours, wanting a feed and by early morning he was not really settling, thrashing around in his cot and being generally quite noisy. I only managed to get him back to sleep properly when i lay him on his tummy on my chest, while I was sat up.
Have hardly had any decent sleep last couple of nights and am knackered plus DH's sleep has been similarly disturbed.
I'm really at my wits end, I know he is only 7.5 weeks but I am wondering if there is something I'm not doing or doing wrong or him to be so unsettled at night and feeding so frequently.
I've been looking at some guides such as the No Cry Sleep Solution and the Baby Whisperer, can I get any recommendations?

oh no bouncingturtle poor you! It is crazy isn't it, sometimes I feel like I'm given a different baby every day. Just as soon as you think you've cracked it, something else comes up.

You ask about recommendations for books. I'm going with a book called Your Baby Week by Week (Simone Cave and Dr Caroline Fertleman). They point out that after week 6, babies' cries are more confusing as they are more likely to cry for other reasons like tiredness and even boredom than food. We found that we were always offering food and jiggling and hugs, when sometimes she was just over-stimulated from being so interested in the world. And unable to figure out how to go to sleep.

Don't know if that sounds familiar? Otherwise maybe it's a growth spurt you have to ride out?

I would add that we have long and difficult evenings trying to settle my DD, so definitely we don't think we've cracked it!

Probably a growth spurt, he seems to have one every week!!!
Hope we have a better night tonight...

Bouncing does DS sleep in your room? I don't feel in a position to advise as DS has bizarre nights all the time and just when I say he does x, y or z then it all goes to pot as well.
How often does he feed during the day? Do you swaddle him at night? How long are his feeds at night?
I've found that DS does like to be swaddled even though he sometimes wriggles his arms free (which i mistook as a sign he didn't want it any more) and he tends to wake frequently in the night when he is windy (a tip on winding from a book called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr Harvey Karp is to sit the baby in a winding position on your knee but then do small quick bounce vibrations with your leg and it does bring up the wind well).

Cazzy did you get my email?

bouncing - ds now 9 wks today and did an 8 hour stretch followed by another 5 hours so maybe it is a growth spurt as a few days ago he was up every 2-3 hours seems to me we're all having difficulties around the same age mark - hope you get more sleep tonight

another late night for me - trying to get chartered and it took us about an hour to settle ds's (one in each room!) and after all normal domestic jobs it doesn't leave much time in evening for me to get my application done it has to be in by March and I've been trying to complete it since beginning of dec - wish I'd been more organised!

hope everyone has had lovely weekends - its been sunny here but very cold, I'm still never sure how much to wrap ds up in, it never seems enough and he has a cold and cough at moment think I'm going to cancel his immunisations till its passed