July 2008 - Rolling, rolling, rolling, our babies just keep on rolling!

[sweetkitty]

Sparkly new thread

sk are you anti-CC then? i did a half-arsed CC when i took the dummy away and E did sleep through after that. but i think there are so may developmental leaps at this age up to 1 year, that can put it all out of kilter again.

how did you sort out the older dd's sleep when the time came?

Not anti-CC as such just have never done it myself, don't think I could but it does get tempting sometimes

DD1 slept 11-8 at 6 weeks, 8-8 at 9 weeks oh the bliss, she was v easy baby but I only had one then. We coslept until about 15 months then she went into own cot in own room no bother (used to map in cot)

DD2 different story at a year still up 5 times a night and using me as a dummy, I put the last side up in her cot and first time she woke DP sat with her sshhed her, rocked her, took 50 mins of crying before she went to sleep, second night 10 mins, third night nothing that was it few weeks later own room. It was as if no boob at night no point in getting up.

Unfortunately DD3 seems to be following DD2 not DD1, DD1 is a think sucker and had a comfort toy she was and is v attached too, apart from DD2 for about 2 months none of them have ever had dummies (not my choice).

Minipink- Hope you feel better soon.

SK- WOW at B being awake all that time!

Abigail has been the worst moody cow ever today! Soo grumpy and whingy.
No apparent reason why.. thought it could be her teeth so put some teething gel on her gums but that made no difference what so ever!
She has fought all her naps big time!- Full on screaming abdabs! and then only slept about 30 mins each time.
Dh is now putting her to bed after more moaning. Glad hes doing it as im really stressed now after todays session! Arrgghh!!

DH and I have decided to get the estate agents round on Saturday to value the house and put it on the market. Last time we moved it took months and months with soooo much hassle, god know why we are putting ourselves through it again!

sk i am a teacher

minipink - ah I remember now

pigley - so I gave her her 7pm feed she fell asleep about 7.30ish then woke up again but in a terrible mood so we went upstairs where I lay and fed her until about 10 mins ago when she unlatched and guess what I can hear her already she must be so overtired

I've done CC briefly with the ds, but not until they were much older - nearly 1. It did work after a couple of days, but was really hard to do! DS1 responded best to it, that's how he learnt to settle himself to sleep after months of falling asleep on the boob / his bedtime bottle. DS2 seems to get angrier every time I went in after the allotted time, so I used to sit on the landing and just peep in to check on him.

Lately Poppy is waking more at night, but she does seem hungry - takes a whole boob not a little suck. She tends to suck her fingers for comfort. One of them has a little cut on it from sucking - must be from a tooth even though there are none visible yet. She also has a bruised bottom lip from chewing it.
She has slept great in the day this week since school started again - short nap about 10am (30 mins) and 90 mins from 1pm until school run time. I think because we are busy getting up and out there is more structure to the day, instead of lounging around.
Perhaps those struggling to adopt daytime naps could make a similar routine? ie up and dressed (inc Mummy!!) by 9am; quick walk up to shop to buy paper or something, lunch at same time (baby could watch if not weaning yet), lovely long nap hopefully followed by another short burst of fresh air, before teatime, bathtime and bed.
(Just realised this theory is not working for SK! Sorry!)
Thinking about it DS1 was my worst daytime sleeper - I used to lie in with him in the morning cuddled up, mooch about the house alot with little timetable. DS2 was better but I was busier then getting to toddler groups, seeing more mummy friends etc.

Minnie - proofreading sounds good, do you need any special qualifications? I can read, spell, and use correct grammar as I have a degree in English.

Tjuice - don't feel bad about falling to sleep - I don't expect Elodie cried for long or got too upset or you would have woken, even with the volume down.

SK - poor you and poor Bethany, it's so hard when they just won't do the thing they need most, i.e. sleep.

Have had quite a good day here, Bryony fell asleep in her carseat after dropping dd1 at school and dd2 at playschool, I managed to carry her carseat into the house without waking her for once and she slept for nearly 2 hours!! So I did a bit of pureeing and scrubbed down dd2's booster high chair, so she could sit in that rather than on my lap at mealtimes. Bryony can only sit up for about a minute unaided though so she had quite a lopsided lunch . I had forgotten how messy weaning is, after every meal both she and I are covered in a layer of squished food.

Re controlled crying, I did it for both dd1 and dd2 when they were about 9 months, I was going back to work and needed to have a good night's sleep so I could concentrate during the day. It really did only take 3 nights and then they were sorted, which was so worth it. I think Bryony is heading that way in a few months' time, when I go back to work, unless she sorts herself out before then.

TJ, you are not a bad mummy, even if Elodie did scream for a bit it's not the end of the world, she will have forgotten all about it by now and so should you! Hope the frying pan copy-writing is coming along well

Sk- I feel your pain! DH put Abigail to sleep about 7.45 after screaming blue murder and refusing her earlier sleep so she was shattered! About 8.20 I heard her over the monitor have a whinge. I quickly flicked the monitor onto lullaby mode and all seems quite now- thank god! Have a feeling its gonna be a long night though!

TJuice- dont stress about it.. I remember when Abiagil was younger and still in the moses basket in our room. We were both awake when DH left and she was shuffling about almost going to sleep. I fell asleep and woke 1.5 hours later. She was happily wriggling around in her basket wide awake.
No idea how long she had been awake or even if she went to sleep at all! I felt so bad but like others have said, If she really needed you then she would of let you know!

Ponto- Glad Bryony had a good sleep today

Hi all, hope you and babes are all well.
Skylar growing leaps and bounds, top centile for height and weight, must be the grobags with compost in them!. When she hits the 6 month mark in 10 days time, then the weaning starts, though she has been paying alot of attention to us eating for quite a while, planning to start off on the fruity porridge, but also give her a few bits of steamed and mashed root veg as well after a couple of weeks. She does get a bit confused by the rolling thing, she has gone on to her belly a few times, then pushes herself right up on her arms and grins then flaps her legs and tries to get her legs under her, without much success yet.
Reflux is pretty much under control with the gaviscon in her bottles and losec once daily, so no more back arching unless she is on her active phase (loves rolling from side to side in her baby gym and kicking the cross struts so the toys all shake and rattle.
Sleep still avoiding her during the day, she seems to 'power nap' for 45 mins at time 3-4 times a day then gets a bit cranky pants in the evening, though she does have a good 90 mins after her bath/bottle routine at 6:30. Do any other babes do this?
Great to read about all the weaning, lots of good tips.
Sorry to hear about all the snuffles / flu bugs going around.

Take care

The 'Spongs

Well last night P didn't wake up at all... (although I did, because I was expecting her to!) but I don't think it's down to anything other than her latest round of jabs (she's on a study programme so gets them every month), she's been absolutely zonked today, which meant I've been able to get on with some work. Feels a bit weird to be working again and it's a bit of a dull job but nice to be earning!

Had a smear test today, was dreading it but apparently they have changed procedure since last May and now use a soft brush rather than a hard wooden stick. Not uncomfortable at all (other than having someone poking around!)

I am too soft to try CC (and I am the 'bad cop' in our family) - just can't do it. I know a lot of people swear by it but at this age I'm not convinced they can fully understand what's going on and are just sooo upset. When DS was about 6mo we used a stroking technique on him but admittedly that was more to get to sleep in the first place rather than to get back after waking. Just lots of gentle tummy/chest rubbing until they nod off and you creeeeep away! Did take ages though. Weaning did also make a difference to his sleep, he was waking because he was hungry so the extra food put him back on track.

MiniPink and Isaidno you don't need any specific qualifications to be a proofreader or copy-editor (copy-editing is a bit more specialised) but you have to be an absolute pedant about spelling and grammar and know your em-dashes from your en-dashes and hyphens etc. These days I only do it on computer so being good at Word and formatting helps, plus a bit of familiarity with Adobe Acrobat goes a long way too. I did do a course back in the old days but it's always worth a speculative enquiry to publishers - most have a proofing test for you to pass. If they work on hard copy then you'll need to be familiar with proofing symbols.

Sorry long post!

minnie - that makes me feel a bit bad about when i do proofing and editing. i mainly create copy and have to really use a different muscle when danes ask me to proof things. its so hard not to re-write when its not written by a native english person.

anyway, i finished my frying pan brochure today and i really want one. its a really heavy cast iron range of pans with this cast iron fork to pick up the lid.

i can't believe how old i am now - i actually care about frying pans!

hope elodie sleeps well tonight. she is generally quite good for daytime naps and i actually have to wake her up after an 2 hour lunch nap sometimes. mornings have been a bit crap - i started off getting up at 7 religiously but these days, with the 4am waking, neither elodie or i can be bothered to get out of bed until 8.30.

she definitely sucks to sleep, whether its a bottle or a dummy so i will have to sort that out at some point. my health visitor said that when they get teeth you have to brush after every meal or drink so i guess that will separate last bottle from bed, right?

Blimey TJ brushing after EVERY meal or drink? I guess in a perfect world that would happen in our house but recall with ds1 that he absolutely hated his teeth being done first/last thing so after every morsel would be such a recipe for stress and tears (on both parts ). Think life is too short! TBH ds1 is lucky to get them done twice a day, normally only once like me. And no we don't have stinky old cheesy breath or bad teeth -I only have 1 filling! And re: the frying pans- I have given in and realise that I actually really love homey stuff, get quite excited about storage solutions especially! There's nothing like a good bit of home porn (the ikea catalogue) ;)

Hello hubarb, glad all is well with your little brood.

Another pants night here, went down fine at 6.30 like normal but then ds1 had a night terror at 9.30 which woke Louis, I tried to get him back to sleep without feeding him as it was about an hour early but ended up having to give him La Boob. Next waking about 2 (I think) and like you Isaidno I do think he's hungry after 5 ish hours so another good feed- but then another waking at 3.30 awake until 4.45. Then woke at 7 so I suppose it could be worse but I am like a Zombie anyway! Doesn't nap brilliantly either- 45 mins around 9am, another 45 mins after lunch, then about 30 mins at around 4. My house is like a skip cos I have no real time to do anything.

Those of you following routines, how many milk feeds are your babies on and when? Think I need to get L on more of a feeding routine if I am going to crack the sleep thing.

Weaning going really well though, he's on breakfast as well as lunch/dinner. Amazes me at the amount he can eat- as well as the noise he can make when it's food time! Tried a few lumps (unintentionally, was just a bit light handed with the masher) and he's accepted these fine so have started leaving things chunkier in the blender. Thought purees etc would be a right faff but have found it surprisingly convenient. Just whizz up veg etc from our meals and freeze a load, it doesn't seem like any extra bother at all.

Off to playgroup this morning, so must get off my bum and start doing our packed lunches- with these two around it will take me until 10.30 to get it ready!

OMG Tjuice Thats excessive brushing! DS1 gets his done in the morning and 90% of the time before bedtime too, and thats it. I was told that if they have water with their meals, (which is proving difficult, but we're getting there) then you don't need to brush until they are 1. But maybe thats to do with the fluride in the water? Too much fluride can be harsh I think....

I tried CC with DS1 when he got to 6 months. It did work after 3 nights, but it was so hard. I had to stand at the bottom of the garden on the first night and let DH do it. And we've done it with him since, when his routine gets out of kilter, e.g if he's ill or been on holiday etc. Richard Ferber has a good book on it, also explains alot about the psycology of it too, which made me feel less guilty.

I love homey stuff too, esp. kitchen stuff, I used to sell Pampered Chef products and I spent more than I earned, everything was so lovely, helped that I got a 40% discount though!

DS only gets his teeth brushed once a day for definite here and he's 2 - not saying that's right though! We do them in the evening as part of his night-time routine and then in the morning it just depends on how much of a rush I'm in. Having said that, he doesn't drink juice or eat chocolate (his choice!) so I'm not too worried. He has his first dentist appointment in March!

Tjuice I'm just saying what I do, I've worked for people like Oxford University Press in the past and they taught me to be obsessive about it all - downside is that it sticks with you and I end up tutting at mistakes in adverts etc. all day! There's a sign in our local shop about proof of age that says 'Challange 21' - makes me internally huff every time I see it!

hiya gals..how u all doin?
i want sum advice.. i wana try blw, read the book, stil dnt get it? wat shud i start with? wat to offer for breakfast? i need ideas...reali stressin me out..

every1 tellin me to puree food! HMMMMMMMMM

mama - don't get stressed and do what you want to. I offer Sam fruit for breakfast (apple, pear etc) or sometime he has some porridge, I try to sppon feed him, but he won't have it, he eats it off the spoon himself, very messy!) Usually toast or bread for lunch with either butter or cheese spread on it, and bits of what ever we are having for tea, so fingers of peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, strips of chicken, bread again, potato, etc. Hope this helps.

Hello ladies, had a quick scan thro posts, just wanted to say hi.
re BLW, I did this with ds who is now 2.7. I did the puree to start with, but we had loads of problems refusing food etc.....i read about blw on here, read aitch's blog and off we went....really worth the extra mess!
I remember going to the baby show when he was about 8 months, he sat in his pushchair munching on a whole apple to peoples horror...anybody would have thought by their reaction I had given him a knife to peel it with!
M2L - look at aitchs blog, some really useful info...i'll try and do a link in a min but i'm rubbish at it. And don't be alarmed at the gag reflex.....99% of the time they are not choking just moving food around!
I won't discuss routines with you as i'm likely to get battered by you lot...
Weight - I have had Meg weighed twice.....to be honest I don't care about centiles etc....all bollocks imo, as long as there happy healthy and growing out of clothes you know there is nothing wrong.
Meg has also got her first tooth! Shes handling really well, not too distressed.
Hope everyone is well and not too cold its been so cold here.

www.babyledweaning.com
BLW blog link hopefully!

why battered? we are a nice bunch, no battering here! I find it really useful to see what others do to see if a bit of your experience might be the magic trick I'm lacking! Go on, tell us

thanx...

ahh routine..we dnt have one..she wakes feeds, play 2hours later naps for 45mins..and that goes on until bedtime, 7:30!
sumtimes 3 sumtimes 4 naps...

i wish her naps were longer then 45mins! arghhh

thanx for the blw advice, and ideas..i jsu kwn every1 gonna b havin a go at me for doin it..and not sure wat to start with.

ok.....Megan will sleep from between 8/9 til 8/9 the next morning. Which suits us atm. Although she will have to wake up sooner from next week for 3 days as ds goes back to preschool. She also has a nap in the day for a couple of hours.....no fixed time just when shes tired. She has her bunny in her cot, which I think is now associated(sp?) with sleep. She doesn't have bunny anywhere else.
I feed her when shes hungry, I don't clock watch at all and she only cries when she wants something. With the sleep thing, I have been reading the other thread and I do agree that some dc sleep well and some don't.....it's nothing done wrong by parents, but equally I think association with smells/toys etc can be a powerful tool in dealing with a baby.
She also slept downstairs with us, on her mat til we went to bed for the first 3 months or so, which I think helped her to sleep for longer periods to begin with knowing we were right there near her. She settles herself 9 times out of 10 with no fuss now....bliss
On the other hand if anyone has any tips for potty training.......I am having a hard time with that one. ds is a little bugger !

how do u get her to sleep daytim?

Now I am going to get flamed for this one...but I tend to feed her to sleep when I know she's tired, put her in cot with bunny etc......if she's fighting it still(like today ) then a gentle rub on tummy accompanied by a smile from me and a little chat so she can hear my voice usually does the trick in 5 mins or so. Failing that then the lullabye projector thingie comes on, but thats very rare during the day. Don't want her to find herself needing it to go to sleep, will end up with more problems long term. I have learned by my mistakes with ds!

I like to think the one place on mumsnet that you won't get flamed for your child rearing views is on your own anti/post natal threads. I use these for support and advice and it's the one place where I think as long as the parents decisions on how to parent aren't actually dangerous then it's each to their own and support is the way forward. As an example I don't agree on letting a baby sleep downstairs during the day HOWEVER whilst on mumsnet in general (say in sleep forum ) I would voice this opinion and the reasons why on THIS THREAD I go fair enough it works for her. (That was an example!)
Does that make sense?

Why flamed, puddingchef? - I have fed all 3 of my DDs to sleep, especially at bedtime. DD1 would probably still like me to do so , DD2 got to a point where she would stop feeding then say 'Cot, mummy'. Don't know what DD3 is going to do, but she isn't even out of our bed yet .