September 08 Remember what we were doing this time last year?[wink]

[Debs75goldrings]

So what were we all doing this time last year?

Hello nelly

Morning all,

Have horrid headache this morning (Hangover) and had forgotten what they are like as it's been so long. I think the last time I had a skinful was Christmas Eve last year (found out I was pregnant on 29th Dec). Was a works do.

Fortunately Erin did not wake up until 7.30am and DH did the feed so I could feel sorry for myself.

Have a good day!

ps - Can't think of a festive name for me, but Meglet, how about Megletitsnow? looks a bit strange now I have typed it!

OK so I'm never going out again ...

By the time I'd got home, expressed (4 oz of fore milk from one side - what can I do with that?) and got to bed it was 1.30.

M woke at 2.20, 4.30, 5, 5.30, 6,(fed on 3 of those occasions) and at 6.30 where DH took over and settled her and she slept on him for 2 hours. Then up at 8.30 aaaah

I know she's coldy still, but I think she's getting into the habit of waking up a lot, feeding more in the nighty than in the day (when I have to offer her a feed as she hasn't really been asking for one) and screaming when awake. Please tell me she'll get back to normal.

Off to school fair and switching on lights in next village!

Have a good day.

I agree with starlight, barnpot. That is pretty much rubbish about letting her cry a bit so that other people can settle him. There is no logic in that statement.

You let him cry a bit.

then you pick him up.

Eh?

How does he figure out to settle quickly for a stranger / other person who hasn't picked him up? Something lacking in the reasoning there.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who lies awake waiting for the baby to wake! Ds's dream feed was an hour later than normal last night, but I woke up 5 1/2 hours later on the dot, having soaked through breastpads, bra, t-shirt, the lot. There was snuffling from ds so I went and fed him but he only nibbled. If there's to be any hope of him sleeping through then I somehow need to sleep through myself, or develop the ability to listen to him in a light sleep without getting up and feeding him. Will think of you other ladies at 4:30 tomorrow morning

I dyed some of A's more revolting pastel pink clothes red the other day, partly because my parents wanted to come take some festive photos of him.

Unfortunately Dylon 'Tulip Red' looks a great pillar-box red - until you wash it out. A now has various dark magenta clothes, but at least it's a nice colour. However on the second wash I put in various other items - and the colour ran, so he now has some pastel pink nappies, wraps, and annoyingly his only nice blue outfit is now lilac. It's not that I mind dressing him in pink but a bit more variety would be nice!

Ooooh I feel for you, I've done that before and dyed a lot of nappies pink. Then I had to buy colour catchers and separate my washing for ages into whites, colours, and things-I've-dyed-that-might-still-run.

Sorry Foxy I should have written it a bit clearer, still got a bit of pregna-brain going on, by others I meant me or my hubby. and what the HV was suggesting is to leaving crying, just for a little while so he doesn't get used to the every time I cry I get picked up scenario.
I obviously wont leave him crying for an excessive amount of time, nor will I ignor his 'I'm in pain/hungry/uncomefortable/dirty' cries.
just come back from PIL must admit it was quite a pleasent visit, no useless advice about us co-sleeping or his feeding etc. so pleasently suprised
Poor you NC I've done the whole dyed in wash mistake, it would be fantastic if all your clothes come out a nice vibrant colour, but its usually a 'pants left in wash' colour.

Well the dyed clothes are at least a butch 'hunting pink' rather than bloody Barbie, so I'm happy with that, but the babygro has rubbed pink onto the white vest underneath.

I try to leave A to squeak for 30 secs before picking him up, as sometimes he does just cry in his sleep. Finally got him to sleep just now...

I can't believe how many of us are in the 4:30 am Club! I will be thinking of you all tonight when I awake as DD slumbers on!

God, I think I would've hurt someone by now if I was still in the 4.30am club! I can remember when DD dropped her 3am feed, it only came about because one night I just totally couldn't wake up enough to get her out of her basket (right next to my bed!!) so I just shoved her dummy in twice and she slept through until 6am! I did it again the next night just to see if it was a fluke and it wasn't - if I had had the energy I would've jumped for joy! She's not woken up at 3am since, 6am is now her first feed of the day and back to sleep until 8am although she is slowly dropping the 6am now too through the same technique.

I wonder how long I would've kept feeding her at 3am before realising she was just in the habit of waking up at that time rather than really needing a feed. More to the point, I wonder how many other things she gets that she doesn't really need just because I'm used to doing it!

Barnpot - I don't agree with the whole 'cry it out' thing but leaving them to cry for a few seconds to see exactly what they're wanting is something that I do too and I don't see any harm in it - rushing straight over to pick them up, imo, is unnecessary in all but a very few cases.

What was I doing this time last year? I had three jobs, spent over a grand on Xmas just because I could!, had come off the pill for the last 3 months and had given up smoking and drinking because we were gearing up for properly ttc in the new year, little did we know that actually I was already pg due to our one 'it's too late in the month now so don't get your hopes up' one off try!

Next thread tile should be:

Hotel Califourthirty: Checked out and desperate to leave!

Meglet

LittleTownOfMegletHem

I'm back from Spain, the house is silent, the baby is bored.

He is also firmly in the 4:30 club. His feeds generally go something like 7ish, 12ish, 4ish, 8ish.

I would be delighted to drop the 4ish feed, but I don't think I can ignore him, because he does get very pissed off. Is there a particular technique one can employ to drop a feed, and if so, does it not mean that he may be getting less food than he requires?

I'm amazed at how silent the thread is. Could it be that we all have a life now?

xxx

ninja I've been playing with the connecta and it is fantastically easy to use, but one problem I keep having is that the instructions say the straps should cross in the middle of your back, not at the top by your neck, but they don't say how you achieve this and I honestly can't figure it out. Do you or any other babywearers have any idea what I might be doing wrong?

pacita I feed next to my laptop and I have no life!

I think most people drop a feed not by ignoring crying, but by ignoring muttering/fidgeting that usually leads up to a cry. They wait it out and are astonished that actually this time, the baby forgot about it and fell back to sleep without getting worked up. Other ways (although not great for nightime) include distracting the baby from food by taking a tour of the house or something to get them used to just going a little longer between feeds. They'll make up for any lost milk when they do feed and your breasts will adjust too.

Evening everyone!

Well, my adventure was a resounding success. Met up with sunflower and lollipop on thursday, which was just lovely, and they advised me on new wraps, which i'm going to order this week . Then, since T was doing so well, I walked over to my work and showed him off, then went to stay at my aunt's.
While I was there my sniffly nose turned into a full blown high temperature sore throat lurgy thing, and I felt bloody awful. T continued to be perfect baby and stick like glue to his routine though.
Went to chocolate making thing (highly recommended!) on saturday afternoon, DP looked after T, and then I had him by myself in the evening while DP went out with his sis. T again stuck like glue to his routine, and then was perfect again today! He's literally cried for about 10 minutes over the whole trip (mostly in front of Lollipop and Sunflower in an attempt to convince them I am a terrible mother ).

I am now recovered from my lurgy, but rather entertainingly have absolutely no voice. I can't do anything above a whisper, although I feel fine.

T is still not going through the night, but is definitely getting closer - DP is occasionally managing to resist leaping up and stuffing a bottle in his mouth the moment he stirs, so he is generally getting to 4:30 at least, sometimes 5am. I'm thinking once he's getting to about 5:30 we'll start cutting down the feed a bit and see how it goes, as he's also beginning to lose interest in his first feed of the day.

In other news, T is slowly beginning to find his fist to suck on, and i reckon when we can safely leave him unswaddled without him startling awake he'll probably suck on his hand and fall asleep again during the night - I'm really not sure he's hungry when he wakes in the night, but feeding him is the easiest form of 'sucky' comfort, which seems to be what he wants, and he is quite often going back to sleep after only a few ounces.

Nelly sorry to hear you're having a hard time, hope it begins to improve as you finally pass the 'magic' 3 month phase!

I'd love ds2 to drop the 4am feed as he doesn't really need it BUT he does then sleep till at least 7.30 and that's lovely so maybe being awake for 20mins in middle of night is better than being up at 6.30. DH has tried a few times getting him up and trying to settle him but it doesn't work, he just cries very loudly and we obviously don't want ds1 to wake.

thought id try a festive name too, but it's a bit rubbish

C seems to like keeping me on my toes - alternates between going 4-5 hours through the night, to waking every 2 hours. At least she's usually back to sleep really quickly though.

Ninja- sorry to hear about the chest infection, sounds a bit like when C had bronchiolitis as she had a nasty cough and threw up after feeds a few times. Otherwise just seemed like really heavy cold, but she turned out to need oxygen and ng feeding.

we're having some plastering done - hopefully 1 downstairs room might look slightly useable then. Not sure about christmas cooking as currently wasahing up in the bath and not sure want to have remnants of roast potatoes etc in there!

Carrieon - wish I could use your technique for bedtimes but dds dad sometimes works late, and half rest of the time seems to have reverted to 18 year old single lad who goes out with mates and stay out all night without answering his phone... so I'm trying to muddle through with 2 of them as best as I can on my own mostly

A still waking every 2-3 hours for a feed, despite our new system of DH picking him up to soothe and only handing to me if DS roots.

Do I just have a wakeful, hungry baby (now 14 weeks) or is there something I should be doing to get him to go longer?

He also snacks loads during the day (almost hourly, sometimes more), what with me offering everytime he roots and grizzles. It doesn't feel right to withhold, but I now have no opportunity to express which means when I go out for christmas dinner next week I will have to leave formula . Not even sure if he'll take formula anymore.

dg - in the daytime C snacks a lot if we're indoors - don't really have any ideas on changing things as such, but does he sleep longer if you take him out for a walk in buggy or put him in a sling? if he did, maybe your dh could take him out for a bit, at least to give you an opportunity to express?

Hi everyone! M managed to have decent 12am-6/7am most nights this week, by ignoring her or giving the dummy, so that's an improvement!!!

Went to some friends' for lunch yesterday, but we where 2 hrs late as all of London seemed to be driving somewhere!! think this disturbed dd as for the first hour we were there she just cryed inconsolably, couldn't sleep or feed! she rarely cries, only when I'm not quick enough with boob, but this was just horrible, guess the combination of interrupted sleep/hunger/tiredeness took its toll. After a while though she was all smiles and chatting!

and now the cold/soar throat/fever is coming back with a vengence for both DP and I... so that's another club to add to the 4.30 one...

night night

DG as splishsplosh says, would your DH be able to take him for a couple of walks in the evening or weekend to give you a chance to express? Does he sleep in the pram?
I can't remember if he does sleep in the pram, but if he does, have you tried having a couple of days of feeding him, having a bit of awake time and then taking him for a walk for his nap, for several feeds? It might mean he wakes up hungry enough to take a bigger feed, and then go longer etc etc. Then you could spend the whole evening cluster feeding, and the combination might give you a little bit longer at night?
I am in awe of your persistance with BF, I have to say. You've done brilliantly! I don't think you need to feel guilty if you begin to try to eke out the time between feeds even by a few minutes (can you distract him at all?) so that you can try to find the time to express, or sleep or whatever. I found with DS that it took us about a week of distracting him as much as possible from feeding for him to go a decent length between feeds. We certainly never let him cry, but if it was a grizzle in his sleep we left him until he was definitely awake and if he was awake we attempted distraction for as long as he would put up with it before feeding.

Oh, and T slept for 8 hours last night. I have decided that although he was knackered last night, it is definitely not a coincidence that he sleeps far better when I'm in charge of the 4am feed than when DP is (I just whisper 'shhhh' from the bed and he resettles at least once or twice before needing a feed, DP flings himself out of bed at the first grunt). I have decided that although DP will continue to do the feed, he's not allowed to get up and feed until I give him permission.

I'm very of all the improved ssleeping.

M's gone backwards - she sleeps better in the day than at night, wants to feed more at night and screams everytime she wakes up. It can take her an hour or more if I try and settle her in her cot and even sometimes in the bed. DD1 wet her bed last night and so came in with me as well and she clings like a limpet so I had about 10cm of space and NO sleep - I was also desperately trying to settle M without her waking DD1. I ended up in tears wandering the landing!

I just want to know where my angel baby is gone 'cos I'm shattered.

I am seriously considering a dummy.

Starlight don't know about the connecta as I only had a go once - sorry. When are you off?

Splishsplosh sorry to hear about your useless (d)p