March08 mums- tummy and teething troubles!

[fitnfortyone]

new thread for Merry...

sounds like you'd happily eat prince caspian on toast is that legal?

Is it normal for a 4 month old to suddenly break their sleeping habbit? He just started waking up at 3am, he usually sleeps through 9pm til 6/7am and i'm not sure why the sudden change?

yes it is normal IME and IMO. if we knew why, we'd rule the world. looks to me like combo of:

1. development - i'm going to practice sitting up/sucking my feet/ saying 'ey-oh'. All night long.
2. teething. my LOs gums are bubbly with tooth action
3. hunger - i think they need different food around now. i'm bf, and both times i swear my boobs have changed consistency and swear my milk has by 5-6 months. i think a fair number of formula fed babies also go to hungry milk around now. or get weaned (i'm sitting on my hands to stop myself offering gg pear already)
4. changes in neurology. at one stage, i knew all about these. then i had a second baby and i can't remember a thing..

Nervousnervous- in the bad old days I reckon you'd be told that that was a sign they'd need weaning. I am of course not advocating anything of the sort and if DD was the same 2 days in a row I'd be dancing the cancan and singing happy days are here again.
mb legal schmeagel.
PS have just discovered if you type in (accidently) www.yahpoo.co.uk- very interesting website!

nervous-I was happily congratulating myself for my baby sleeping through just a few days ago. The lat two nights I have seen 1030, 1230, 230, 330, 430, 6. WTF? Am pleased to hear I'm not alone, but even my HV took one look at my DS and said don't wait for 6 months, do it at 4.5. He screams whenever food is around...
MB- Pleased you said that, thought I was alone in strange boob change. I'm sure they aren't the same as they were even a week ago..

My DS has started waking an hour after going to sleep for more food. Still only waking once at night (bet that's the kiss of death for tonight now!), but was eating every hour from 12.30 until 5.30 this afternoon...

Feeling better about things, mainly because he has gained 10oz in 2 weeks which is his second best gain ever. My baby likes to tease with these weigh-ins. From now on I think I'll go ever month as he has a rubbish two weeks followed by a reasonable two weeks, so a month should average it all out and make me feel happier. Thanks for all your support on this

DS isn't 4 months old until end of July. Think we'll be waiting until at least end of August to wean and may even make it to 6 months, mainly because we have a nightmare 4 weeks in late Aug/early Sept involving 3 weddings in 4 weekends and me making the cake for one of them. I won't have time to think about pear puree!

I bumped into a lady at the HV clinic today who was asking a HV what was wrong with her DD2 who was still waking once at night at 13 weeks. Apparently her DD1 slept through from 5 weeks so she thought there was something very wrong with her DD2... The HV reassured her that her DD1 was the odd one out...

i fondly remember the days when gg only woke once a night. sigh i was la-la-la-la this is easy now i'm la-la-la-la-la going doolally

we managed to sleep through a few nights ago but since then its back to 4am. and last night she was horrible and screamed only going to sleep on my chest! think it was wind as she was kicking her legs like mad.

where is everyones babys sleeping? do you still have them in with you or are they in their own rooms? iz is currently in a crib in our room but is getting too big for it, she keeps getting jammed sideways and her legs stuck in the bars. if i want to put her in a cot though she will have to go in her own room and shes only 4 mths! ideas anyopne?

spugs - we moved our ds into his own room (and massive cot bed) when he was 7 weeks! i'd hoped to keep him in with us for a while longer so i was quite but he was ramming his head awkwardly against top of moses basket and cotbed was too big for our room so we didn't have much choice. If I had time over agaiun I might have got a crib so he could have lasted a bit longer in with us. FWIW, I never have any problems hearing him as he is just across the landing and we keep both doors open and i always get to him before he is doing anything more than whimpering. Plus i now sleep a lot better as i'm not kept awake by his random chuntering!

Well, LO had a 2 hour meltdown last night of the likes we haven't seen for a couple of months He just gets completely overtired, but just won't sleep during the day so by the time it gets to 5/6pm he's getting hysterical! None of the usual tricks helped to calm him, and eventually he just fell asleep through exhaustion from all the crying Luckily he went down at bedtime fairly easily, just as well as my DH was losing the plot..

I'm very of all those who have had LOs sleeping through the night. My LO over the last two nights has just woken up twice during the night (well between midnight and 6 am) at 02.30 and 05.00 and that is real progress compared to the last few weeks!

He's been grumpy again today, and I need to stay in to wait for an electrician, so hoping he comes soon so that I can try and get out with the pram. That said, LO has now been asleep for an hour which is a rare treat (although he did fall asleep on my banana pillow and I didn't want to risk waking him by putting him in his cot, so he's currently still asleep on the pillow on top of my bed - as a result, I'm running in every two minutes to check he's not smothered himself!)

Spugs - we have a natures nest, and LO is still 'sleeping' in our room during the night - we'll probably move him into his nursery once he starts sleeping through (have visions of an 18 year old beside us!)

mine is ditto yours spugs. will go into cotbed in big room downstairs from current bedrooms, when we have arranged swap of study and current smaller nursery, including buying big bed for ds1. probably 3-4 weeks time. dunno. don't want to coincide it with delayed potty training. am scared. will they keep each other awake until the year 2023....?

Spugs - we moved LO into her cot and own room at about 10/11 weeks (i think, might have been slightly later). Love it - didn't think i would - but easily hear her if she cries (just across the landing) but don't wake up every time she rolls over as i did when she was in our room. given that I am up with her about 4 times a night, being able to sleep in between is lovely!!

PS Anyone else's LO being a complete pain in the proverbial at the moment? Barely eating, crying for no reason and then transforming into little angel just as I am about to resort to Calpol...She's been really grumpy for a couple of days - was thinking it might be the weather or some weird developmental change they go through at 16 weeks - any ideas?

I have a pain in the arse DD at the moment too CM & spugs, she has cried herself to sleep twice today, is off her milk and sleeping loads but when not sleeping she is a nightmare.

I am repeating the mantra "This too shall pass" like a broken record at the moment. Oh and she screams everytime I eat in front of her, not sure they realise what food is yet but she goes absolutely nuts! Only another 9 weeks until I can wean (and go back to work, eek!).

Oh it's MissingMyHeels btw, have namechanged!

I love this thread, just as I'm going through something new, at least a few other babies on the thread have the same issues so i know we're not alone. This time its about where DD sleeps. I'm ready to put her into her own room as I know me and DH disturb her (already not very settled) sleep when we come to bed but I've been driving myself crazy stressing over the advice about SIDS and room-sharing till 6 months. What was bugging me was the lack of a clear reason why room sharing should make a difference. I emailed the FSID helpline and got a useful response (though no reason) that you might all want to see so I've copied it here. Apologies for the length of this post!

Subject: Safe sleeping advice
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:24:32 +0100
From: [email protected]

Dear enquirer
Thank you for your email regarding your baby's sleeping habits.
As your flat is small and the baby is in the next room I should leave her where she is with both doors open. The research of sharing a room but not a bed for the first 6 months was based on epidemilogical studies so therefore no reason was given. Certainly a mother does not sleep so deeply when her baby is near by and possibly the baby is aware of the mother but this of course was not proven and is only surmising. What it did show is that more babies survived who shared rooms with their parents (but not beds) than those in a separate room altho many parents do move their baby out of their bedroom at 4 months. Although we do recommend ideally that your baby sleeps in the same room as you at all times, the day time sleeping research found that the babies who had died were found to have had loose bedding over their heads. I suggest you use ( or may well be already ) a sleeping bag so there is no danger of any loose bedding in her cot. You did mention in your email that for her day time naps she is sleeping in a baby reclining chair. This is against our advice as she could easily turn on to her front at her age and develpoment and sadly SIDs have occurred in reclining chairs.. Please place her on her back in her cot for all sleeps in a cool room away from a radiator and in the summer away from a window where the sun can shine in and over heat her.If the weather becomes very warm you may want her to wear a vest and nappy at night with a low tog sleeping bag.
I hope this has put your mind at rest.
Best wishes
Judith
Judith Howard
Please direct any replies to: [email protected]
Helpline 020 7233 2090 open 9am-11pm weekdays,
6pm-11pm weekends
www.fsid.org.uk
Is your baby sleeping as safely as possible?
Take our Safe Sleep Test

Dear Sir / Madam

I would be very grateful if you could answer a couple of questions for me regarding safe sleeping practises for my daughter who is 4.5 months old. I think my husband and I would disturb her sleep less if we were in a separate room from her. We have a room next to ours where even without a monitor I would be able to hear her cry and probably much quieter noises as well as the flat is very small.

I understand that the guidelines recommend sharing a room for 6 months but could you please explain what the benefit of this is and why it reduces the risk of cot death.

Also, I spoke to someone from your helpline yesterday who said that latest recommendation says that whenever your baby sleeps there should be an adult in the same room. But, after DD goes to sleep in our room at 8pm, my husband and I are next door in the lounge or kitchen (with a monitor on) till we go to bed at 11pm. During these three hours where should we / DD be, bearing in mind that neither of us would choose to go to bed at 8pm and the lounge / kitchen are relatively noisy and brightly lit?

Similarly, I put DD down for her day time naps in a reclined chair in our room with the lights down and the door ajar (again, monitor on) while I get on with jobs in the rest of the flat. What should I be doing for these naps?

All advice very much appreciated as I want practicality but don't want to put my child at risk.

Many thanks in advance,

My baby flips himself all night onto his tummy so I have given up and let him sleep like that. Am I a bad mother?
BTW...mine sleeps in his own room, I start out in my room and end up in his because I'm so tired I fall asleep on the nice quiet double bed in his room...no snoring from DH. Do you all find baby sleeps better without you?

Turtle - I think but am not 100% sure, that the advice is once they can roll, they can roll! I'm pretty sure we aren't meant to go in and turn them over everytime, imagine if we did we'd be getting even less sleep.

m27 - that advice seems pretty sensible.

ds is going down to sleep really well at about 7.30pm, and whether he is woken at 10 ish for a bottle of bm (he generally would take about 6/7 oz) he'd be awake again at 2 then 4, just for a quick 10 min feed and back down again until 7 ish, but the lack of long sleep is beginning to really hurt. But last night, he had his bottle at 10 then went through to 4am. I just hope this will continue, the girls are definitely suffering as I'm being very impatient and irritable at the moment.

I'm relieved he's sleeping a little better as I want to keep him in with me (this isn't a dig m27). This hasn't really got much to do with the advice as the girls moved out at about 4 months, but because he is my last baby, and I have visions of him sleeping through, waking at 7, then rolling over and waking me up tenderly playing with my hair (he sleeps about 30 cm away from me). What are the odds of this happening? Anyway, I'm saying to MrP that the advice has changed about keeping him in with us, and that he needs to stay with us for as long as possible, as he seems to think moving him out will solve the sleep issues.

Only 3 days left until the end of term, and then 6 long beautiful sunny weeks in which to spend quality time with my sweet natured, patient children!! I really want to make the most of it. dd2 starts school in September and so this is likely to be the last time I spend 6 weeks with all three of them at home as I'll be back at work by this time next year.

One of my NCT group has been referred to the specialist sleep HV in our area because she has what is known as a wakeful baby - one who wants to play for 3 hours solid at night rather than even attempt to sleep! Anyway, amongst other advice, the sleep specialist said that waking babies for a feed around 10-11 can sometimes interrupt their sleep pattern and that it can be better to leave them to wake naturally. This seems to have worked for this baby - she now sleeps 8-2 and then isn't partying in her cot for the rest of the night but actually getting back to sleep. She wakes once more, probably around 5.30-6 but her mum says it is much better than her being awake for 3 hours playing noisily and wanting attention!

We noticed a period between about 8 and 11 weeks old where we would wake DS at 11.30 for a feed and he would then wake again at about 2am despite taking 6-7oz (that's his ff) so it didn't seem that the late night feed was working. A dream feed didn't do any better either. However, he now seems to wake of his own accord somewhere between 10.30 and 11.30 and then goes through until somewhere between 4.30 and 6 on the same amount of food. So maybe there is something in the not waking them.

No idea if it will work, but just thought I'd share in case any of you think the late night feed isn't working!

DS just cried himself down for a nap. I was with him doing the pick up/put down thing as he was so upset but he wouldn't stop crying even when held so in the end I put him down and just sat by the cot singing to him while he cried himself into oblivion

love the co-sleeping last baby fantasy i had a different fantasy yesterday...listen...

'i wake up and stretch lazily, and lie in bed for half an hour, thinking about possible ideas for the day, and decide instead to just take it as it comes. i get up and have a long shower, conditioning hair, exfoliating, shaving, sorting out nails and feet. i go back to bed wrapped up in towels and read my book until i get to the end of the interesting bit. i go downstairs in the empty house and make a cup of coffee and exactly the choice and amount of breakfast i fancy and take this and eat it in front of the telly , watching some grown up, recorded program. i go an try a few different types of clothes, and choose a complicated layered flimsy thing that looks great and is spotlessly clean. i pick up my keys and phone and stroll out of the house to go window shopping....#

to be continued

Merry. I only have the one baby to deal with it and am fantasising about similar days - will I ever dare to have a second? I am about to try and shave the jungle that is my legs before DS wakes up. Is it possible in 3 minutes?

Last question should actually have read "Is it possible in 3 minutes without incurring major blood loss?"

{hands HQ a hankie and plaster}

'...while i'm shopping, i have a couple of long, ranbling detailed conversations on the phone with my friends. i break for lunch and get to eat all the olives in my food, and do not have to pick anything up from under the table or leave a ridiculously large tip. i go to a large park, and sit in a quiet, very sunny spot for a couple of hours and read some more. i stretch lazily and head home, where two shining sleepy boys kiss me lovingly and tell me about their days before tkaing themselves off to brush their teeth and put themselves to bed, while i read them one each of a new story we've never heard before. i go back out to my sparkling clean house and have a long slow snog with dh. as we finish, our chosen babysitter arrives, the one with just one head and no thought in it but the sanctity of our home and the preciousness of our boys. we leave her hovering silently over our slumbering boys and go out to meet our friends for dinner, laughing and drinking. we find a black cab instantly at at 2am in shoreditch and go home quickly. the baby sitter floats down, all is well, and refuses our lift home or any money, but instantly teleports herself away. dh and i go to bed and make slow langourous love, untired and uninterrupted. the boys sleep though the night and wake us late the next morning, creeping gently into our bed for hugs and polite requests to go for a nice walk around an art gallery that sunny morning, and could we please stop for coffee and to read the papers...?'

he woke just as i was applying shaving foam to my legs. so i made him watch (on the basis that everything that is new is exciting to a baby) and lectured him on how he needs to understand from an early age the lengths that us women have to go to remain hair free just so we can conform to notions of femininity in this male-dominated society... the little blighter just sat there giggling