March08 mums- tummy and teething troubles!

[fitnfortyone]

new thread for Merry...

missingmyheels, i have been doing the EASY routine with ds4, well he has kind of fallen into it by himself really with me following his ques and a bit of me giving him promts for sleep iyswim?

so he wakes at about 9am and has bottle by 9:30 (on school days he is up at 8:30 as he has to be but i still wait and give him his bottle when i get back from school run) then he will be awake till say 10:30? sometimes a bit later and then i put him to bed and he will have a nap for an hour and a half or two hours? and then he has a bottle at 1:30 is awake for a bit and then has a nap at some point in the afternoon, say about 3ish? this can vary depending on what we are doing, this is a shorted nap and i tend not to put him to bed for it, instead he sleeps in the pushchair or the car seat depending, then he has a bottle at 5:30 and a little sleep at 6ish, this is probably only 20mins or so, then he goes to bed at 7:30-8:00, the bedtime routine is upstairs, change nappy and into babygrow, give him a bottle, lie him down and tuck him in and then he just sucks his thumb and goes to sleep i then give him a dream feed when i go to bed normally about midnight sometimes later, and then he will sleep through till 8:30 -9am

Thanks Ladies, and for the virtual wine and chocolates

It's made me feel better just getting that off my chest, and thank god LO seems to have gone down now so I should have a few hours to clear my head and cheer up.

Think I'll give it another day or two, and if the sleeping/screaming hasn't improved then will give formula a try. I've been so pig headed about keeping going with the bf that I don't want to give up, but if there's a chance that he becomes more content with formula then the voice of reason says I should do it. I've also been 'trying' the 3 hr baby whisperer routine, but keep going off track every time he doesn't nap/feed etc

Evie - I used a double pump in hospital although can't remember the name of it. I did find it a bit sore, but think if I was to try it now with boobs used to bf then it would be fine. Hope it works for you.

that is similar to us e14, the easy, stands for eat, activity, sleep, YOU so you get some times iyswim? tho i have the other three to deal with when ds4 is asleep, lol

4madboys - that's the routine I've been attempting. Where it goes wrong for me though, is that at the moment 'sleep time' is normally a screaming match, and by the time he has eventually gone to sleep, we're back at the 3 hour mark and he should be getting fed!

I've heard a few people say it's good though, so will keep trying

what a bugger, it does sound like he is getting over tired? what i have found with ds4 is that he needs to be asleep within an hour and a half to two hours of when he woke up, or else he starts to get too tired and then is a sod to get to sleep.

i am lucky in that he has learnt to suck his thumb which helps him to sleep, so i take him out in the pram, put him to bed, or sometimes i stick him in the sling, it varies depending on what i have to do with the older three.

i think it is worth perservering and we still have days where it doesnt always work, he misses his sleep time like you say, but generally it is working well

and for me its amazing the elder three never had any kind of routine at all and would only sleep when held or at the breast so to have a baby i can put to bed is a dream

mm- know it might sound crazy, but could he be overtired? What about putting him down earlier in the cycle (shorten your wake time) and see if it makes a difference? It's taken about a month for us but dd usually(tho not always) will go down without crying (much ) now.
For example, she wakes around 7:30 and is usually back in bed by 9.

x-post 4mb!

Yes, he's definitely been getting overtired. I've been trying to watch out for his sleepy cues and wind down his awake time before he gets to the overtired stage, but he's still fighting any attempt to swaddle him, cuddle him to sleep, or be put in his cot etc, etc.

The very thought of having a LO this age and other children is scary - I have total admiration for all those with more than one!!

will he not take a dummy or anything? i used to swaddle ds4 but have found now he is a bit older he settles better without being swaddled.

if R is overtired the best thing is either to take him to bed and lay with him, i lie him on his side, he sucks his thumb/cries and i pat him on his side/top of his leg, for some reason he find this soothing.

or else i put him in the sling, either the ring sling or the close sling and i have to walk about/sway and again pat him and he will then settle to sleep.

oh and as you are bfeeding is he any better with your partner? i find that R does still settle to sleep better with dp sometimes as tho he hasnt bfed for a month he still hasnt forgotten and tries to bury his face in my boobs and gets cross that he cant have it, before he was on bottles the ONLY way he would go to sleep was at the breast.

and as for coping with more than one, it has its moments of madness, but it does get easier, i would never have thought it possible when ds1 was little, he was a nightmare baby (didnt sleep properly till he was three years) but somehow once he got to 18mths things were easier and i started to look back fondly on the little baby stage...... its natures way if you didnt forget or get that rose tinted view you would never do it again

You are definitely right that DH can settle him to sleep much better than I can, but he's not around during the day and unfortunately it's the daytime naps which are causing the problems..

I have started to wonder if the swaddling bit is what's kicking off or escalating his hissy fit, although when he does eventually go down he seems to sleep for longer if swaddled . Might start experimenting without it and see if it helps.

As for the dummy- LO seems to permanently have it in his mouth - he is a really sucky baby and absolutely loves his dummy! Strangely though he never wants to comfort feed on me - he will only bf when hungry, gulp down milk and then spit me out (usually with a look of disgust as if I've fed him poison)! So, even offering my boob when he's upset just makes him worse.

Thanks for all the tips, I'm going to be optimistic that tomorrow is a better day and will update on progress!!

it was a gradual thing with the swaddling as i too found that tho it made him cross he slept for longer swaddled, so for a while i swaddled him with one arm out, and this coincided with him learning to suck his thumb

and i gradually did it looser, tho i would sometimes tuck the sheet around him a bit tighter once he was asleep (always risky tho incase it woke him up...)

so even with the dummy he screams, poor you do you have one of those baby swings? we have one tho R is too big for it already, and that would sometimes work.

that reminds me actually i need to phone the local free ads and put an add in to sell our one, yet another thing to do, my list seems to get longer not shorter

good luck and that is the right way to look at it, tomorrow is another day and may be the day when you find that magic trick that works

thanks all for thoughts, I am going to speak to a hiring agent tomorrow and see what happens. I've read a few posts on here about exclusively pumping and it sounds hideous but may do two day time feeds with bottle and use boob morning and night...anyway - you don't need my detailed waffling on.
sleep well all

sorry to hear some are having tough times.
gg is on a two-two and a half hour (thunk) EASY rhythm. he still acts like such a new born re: sleeping and eating. Hungry boy.

We're also 2 1/2-3 hours at the mo. Keep getting "he isn't hungry already, surely, you don't have to keep shoving your boob in his mouth, let him cry" from b*tchmother in law as she thinks he should be 4 hours. Sometimes he doesn't survive more than an hour awake. Have given up trying to rule his life and am just going with the flow. Hopefully soon this flow will include sleeping through someday?

Jealous of those with swaddled babies. I have houdinichild who has managed to escape since week 2. I gave up in the end. He isn't able to sleep now unless he "starfishes" and has his monkey on his head. Oddball.

We use the sleeping bags- DD was swaddled for the first month but then she started to want to suck her hand but the sleeping bags seem a good compromise- they seem to make her feel just secure enough w/o hampering her movement too much. We've started giving her her bedtime bottle all wrappped up in it and it really (touch wood) seems to help her settle at bedtime. If we could just get her to sleep for more than 4 hours in the night it would be fantastic.
The good thing about having a second child is I've realised just how hard DS was- colicky, only slept ever during the day if being rocked and screamed from about 4 through to 9 in the evening. only ever slept for 20 mins in day etc. (staggered, now I think of it, that I ever contemplated having another!). I think it's far too easy (and MIL's don't help) to think there is a way to 'fix' the baby and that therefore you are doing something wrong when they are screaming when really- some babies are really hard work and some are easy. DS is a gorgeous toddler tho'- you will find you start to enjoy them at some point.

MM - have you tried 'white noise'? I discovered that the humm of my electric breast pump really relaxes dd, she stops crying, goes into a trance and then to sleep. hoover does the same.

On routines i seem to be doing the three hour EASY thing, though I didn't know it. I was worried that Ididn't have a routine so for a few days I 'went with the flow' and wrote down what dd did and when - ans she did the same thing at the same time each day. So then I just kind of 'fixed' those times but in a fairly flexible way. /Made it much easier to plan the day.

I had the most hideous evening last night. I think I've got a blocked duct (owwwwww) and then I had a massive migraine too. Ended up whimpering on the floor, only able to sing not speak, while dh held dd at my side so she could feed. I was actually wanting Dh to knock me unconcious, luckily he didn't! Feel better today, just really washed out and with a v painful boob.

ooh owch looking forwardtosummer, have you tried combing yor breast? i always did that when i got a blocked duct or mastitis, with a wide tooth comb, gently but firmly from under the armpit to the nipple, it can really help clear a blocked duct

R is being a wee star today, he slept in till 9:30 then had bottle was a awake and cheery till 11:30 then i put him to bed as he was starting to grizzle and suck his thumb, he is still there, with a bit of luck he should sleep till 1-1:30 and then he can have another feed and we are then all going out to a scout/beaver fayre thingy just hoping the day continues to go as smoothly........ dp is at work went this morning and wont be back till tomorrow morning i hate his shifts sometimes, but hey ho it pays the mortgage etc

oh and i second the white noise if ds4 is overtired sticking the hoover on and him in the sling or rocked in the carseat tends to help him to settle

funny how many of us seem to be doing the EASY routine, i didnt realise at first that we were, just sort of fell into it, it does seem to work quite well

LFTS-I found that using a manual pump under water in hot bath was good when I had a blocked duct...don't know if that would be of any help?

i swear our babies are spying on this thread and copycatting.

We had a glorious week and a half of LO sleeping through for 12ish hours, but now he's decided to wake at 3am on the dot for the last 4 nights. For the few days before that he was waking about 1/2 hour earlier each day. Luckily 2 of them were on the weekend so DH had to deal with it
Is this a growth spurt or related to teething? I haven't really noticed proper growth spurts before now?

I second that. We had 1230, 230, 400 and 630 last night. Argh.

{{{{monthlymayhem}}} I can only second what the others have said and reiterate that this is just a phase. Your friend with the newborn baby who is finding it easy has a long way to go. You've done brilliantly. I also think your LO may be overtired at times. If DS gets like this I lie on the bed, take my top off (and bra- so there's no uncofortable wire) and shove him between my norks. He either suffocates himself to sleep or is totally sound proofed! Who knows why but it works. Once he's dropped off I gently tip him onto the bed. This is during the daytime, usually the afternoon nap.
Was it you Merryberry who suggested I give DS more milk? I'm not sure it is physically possible. Last night he was still hungry after his bedtime feed of 210ml. So I gave him some more and the greedy cheeky chappy gobbled another 160ml. So that is a grand total of 370ml in one feed three hours after consuming 250ml in the afternoon.
He must be using all that milk to build up his strength as we now have rolling!!! he can roll from his back to his side to his tummy but he still gets his arm stuck underneath and then squawks a bit. But no more little rests on the sofa. And I bought him a play mat the other day but it's too small. It's 70cmx70cm and he stretches right from top to bottom on it. I'm not going to even bother with a bumbo as he's wearing 9-12month trousers today [gulp].

Hope babies start sleeping better and ouch, lookingforwardtosummer Poor you.Hugs also to everyone else struggling at the moment.

We did too! Am starting to find this broken sleep thing really difficult. I have so much to do during the day, that I don't think I can function much longer on such little sleep. DS is in cot right next to my bed, and I'm beginning to wonder whether it is time to move him to his room. I know it goes against the advice, but he's really good at settling himself for a nap during the day and at bedtime, but it seems so noisy when he's less than 30 cm from my ear in the middle of the night. He's doing that sleeping on us thing, but 5 minutes after being put in his cot he's awake and crying again.

Are any of you struggling to relax? Sounds weird when I'm sooo tired, but over the weekend, I had plenty of opportunities to sit back and do nothing, Mr P is being helpful and supportive in spite of my extreme moodiness. But I seem unable to do it. I only feel as though my mood lifts while I'm busy doing something, but then I feel more tired and the viscious circle continues. Anyway, on Friday (4 sleeps away), dd1 and 2 are off on holiday with my parents, just away for two nights about 30 miles from here. I can barely conceal my excitement at the thought of a quiet and calm household for 48 hours. Feel a bit guilty because they are really very good kids, caring, happy and sensible, but it will hopefully help with the relaxing thing.

Right, better get on with chores, I really don't want to spend the weekend catching up on housework.

How's the thrush turtle? Any luck with gp?

MrsP, our LO slept so much better once we moved him into his own room - before that, we probably disturbed him too much when we were going to bed, lights noise etc. Once we had a monitor that worked ok with all the technology interference in the house i was happy enough to have him in his own room, but until then, we wouldn't have heard him crying.

Glam, how much?!!! Eddie gets through around 30oz a day (is that about a litre?) but the most in one go has been 9oz after a swimming lesson. But then, he's only just starting to outgrow some of his 0-3mth clothes. Amazing how they're all so different for the same age!
I've got him on his tummy at the moment, busy looking around and drooling over the mat. He can roll from his front onto his back, and can use his head and neck to move round in a circle but can't get from back to tummy yet luckily! He gets onto his side in bed, but i think it's softer and easier for him to do that in the moffii than it would be in a normal cot.

Turtle and MM, more hugs for your sleep deprivation , and much admiration for your determination to keep going!