March 2005 babies - we are very quiet

[popsycal]

So how is it going for everyone? Most of us have had our babies so how was the first few weeks?

Poor you Popsy,

Do you mind if I ask what you are feeding him on?

Breast feeding / formula / mixed feeding ?

breast feeding
he needsd to go longer between feeds but it is so easy to give in to keep him quiet so he doesnt wake ds1 in the next room

Ashli's totally bottlefed (Not my choice unfortunately, I blame VERY unhelpful hospital staff..) and she's an angel when it comes to feeding/sleeping.. she eats at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 6pm, 10pm and then goes down and sleeps until 7 when she wakes up for her next feed..

We have been SOOOO lucky.

Have you tried making her last feed at night a bottle formula feed? Apparently it takes longer to digest and it can help them to sleep longer at night. Might be worth a shot?

Sarah + Ashli

Popsy would you consider mixed feeding.

?

Not sure really...I mised fed ds1 not totally through choice and one day i realised that i hadnt breastfed. have tried soooo hard to make it work this time as it meant a lot to me to give it my best shot.....

Popsy I hear you, I was also determined to exclusively breastfeed.

Kieran was/is feeding on demand when I breastfeed only he is up every hour or two wanting to feed. I now breast feed him then give him a bottle (top up). This way he sleeps for at least
4-5 hours.

I think maybe you should give it a go, making sure that you breastfeed first.

Mixed feeding saved my sanity and maybe Kierans as well.

popsy have you tried posting on the wanted board at mumsnet to see if anyone has a hammock they no longer need? Other than that you could try ebay. I'm sure it will get better soon.

and thrush isnt shifting.....grrr

Hey Popsy (Hi and welcome sarah! ), I was just catching up on all the posts and see you are having a bad time of it still . How old is Harry now? I know he must be older than Faith, she's 8wks 4days. I was feedin every hour and for up to two hours sometimes, until at about 4wks my HV suggested I introduce a top up bottle late evening - not only would it encourage Faith to sleep a little longer but also give me and my boobs a rest and a chance to fill up again. I must admit I was very reluctant as I thought this would be the slippery slope to packing in the breastfeeding which I was really enjoying - it was just very difficult managing daily routine with DDs 1 and 2 with a baby constsntly feeding!!

Anyway, 4wks on and she still only has a last top up before bed, and my boobs are nice and full by 5/6am when she wakes for her breakfast !! Which means she starts the day with a good feed and can go 3/4 hrs between feeds for the rest of the day . It also gives me the chance to have a glass of wine in an evening after her last BF, cos I know any alcohol will be out of my system by the morning feed . Also if you can do this and go to bed after last BF (leaving DH to give bottle later), you get to sleep til morning!! (last BF about 6:30pm ish) Which I haven't done yet BTW, as DH is either away at work or "needs help" settling her!

One other thing - HV said if I wanted to stop the bottle at anytime I could and milk supply would increase to make up for it. However it really works for us so I'm not stopping and I do get to BF every other feed - I never give bottle at any other time! Hope this helps.

Another thing popsy - I've found older siblings either don't hear baby or learn to sleep through it. I ended up sleeping on the sofa downstairs with the moses basket beside me with DD2 because I was soooo worried about waking DD1 - DD2 was poorly baby with very bad reflux, she never slept more than 2hours at a time for first 4mths . But DH thought I was being daft and we ended up back in bedroom and she never once woke DD1 - and she really used to scream all night!! This time too the older girls are in the room next to ours and Faith hasn't woken them at all. Try to relax, it's another stress on you if you worry about waking older one too - this might be sensed by Harry.

hi again girls thanks for all your advice abd the time taken to try to help

harry will be 10 weeks on sunday...

last night i wrote down the times he woke up and it is every 2.5 hours almost exaclty...he fed at 8:30pm, 11pm, 1:30 but managed to settle him until 3:00 with a lot of shushing...then fed him in bed, fell asleep holding him then woke at 4:30 and lay him down next to me. he fed on and off til 6 when he woke for a feed then slept til 8:15

I really don;t want to give him formula at the minute....I could tell you the long history of ds1 but it would bore you to death and would take ages typing with on hand but there are a variety of factors.

anyway going to ring docs on monday to try to get more effective thrush treatment as my boobs are really starting to hurt

read something yesterday which said 'most babies over 12lbs can manage to sleep through after a 10pm feed'

Popsy, at risk of throwing yet more advice at you, have you tried co-sleeping? Our situations sound very similar - Toby does settle in his cot at about 8pm (this usually takes about an hour of up and down, dummy in, shushing, etc.) but then after he wakes up at around midnight (sometimes earlier) he just will not settle back in his cot. I always end up giving in and as he's in a bedside cot, move the cot next to the bed and have him in with me (the cot basically acts as a guard against him falling out of bed, as he's not actually in it, iyswim). This is the only way I am guaranteed to get some sleep, and although he wakes up every few hours (last night it was about every 2.5 hours) I can feed him laying down and don't feel TOO sleep deprived.

I know this may cause us 'problems' in the long run, but to be honest in my quest for sleep I am just doing what works for us at the moment. I do plan to start putting him back in his cot (but keeping it next to the bed), and then eventually moving the cot further away from the bed, etc. once he settles down a bit (goodness knows when that will be, though).

Oh and by the way, we also have an older ds who is in the room next door, but invariably ends up in bed between me and dh so it's cosy, to say the least. He doesn't seem to get disturbed by Toby's night wakings, but then again he's generally stopped pretty much straight away as my boob is so accessible. We do have a fan in his room which we put on when he goes to bed, and that masks any noises Toby makes when ds1 is settling down.

I realise I've waffled on again, but just really want to share our experiences as they may help you out.

Popsy, our posts crossed - so please disregard my question about whether or not you co-sleep!

thanks Kerry
i co-sleep as a last resort. i know many people love it but i feel very uncomfortable doing it and dont sleeop alot better....

Goodmorning all, I hope we are all doing well.

Popsy I don't know about babies over 12lb sleeping through.

Kieran is over 13lb and still wakes up between 3-4.30 am and has a breastfeed then again at 6.30am and between 8.30-9am.

Babies over 12lb sleeping through? Where did you read that? I always thought it just depended on the baby as to whether they would sleep through or not.. like I said before Ashli's been sleeping through since she was 4 weeks and she certainly wasn't 12! In fact she was only 11lb 13 at our weigh in this wednesday just gone!
Sounds like a load of media rubbish to me... I know some 4 month olds in my mum and baby group that still aren't sleeping through!

Sarah + Ashli x
8 weeks +2 days.

I just read on another thread about a kid who slept through till 15 weeks, she is now 6 months and still waking up every 2hours or so.

How you doing Sarah, how are you finding Mumsnet?

I can't imagine Toby ever sleeping through! I remember thinking ds1 was a bad sleeper, but compared to Toby, I think he was actually very good. Still, this period doesn't last forever (I KEEP telling myself that!)

Hey y'all,

I hope we all had a good day today. Misdee, thinking of you

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{sleep vibes y'all}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} send me some too I think I will need them tonight, Kieran is acting up. Oh well!

HI folks
This is the first time that I have been online withough harry on my lap for some time!

I have decided just to ride the storm with the night times.....it simply CAN'T go on forever and he is still only weeny. I am going to try to push him to wait longer during the day....to 3 hours where possible....going to wait until ds1 is at his childminders on wednesday and really concentrate and give it my full effort. I am also going to persevere with a dummy - although he has started sucking his fingers and thumb - fairly sure he isnt hungry just likes to suck! His sickiness is slightly better - at least it isnt bothering him so much anymore.

Also we are in the process of switching to cloth nappies and I am really surprised and pleased how well it is going! Becoming a bit of an addict already - awaiting my parcels on a morning

Going to baby clinic tomorrow to try to get some better thrush medication as it has come back again. Harry doesnt seem too bothered by it which is good but my boobs are killing me. I have had pain free feeding from the end of week 1 so it has come as a bit of a shock to be wincing again when he latches on. Hopefully we will get that sorted out!

I am having a bit of a dilemma about returning to work which you may be able to give me some suggestions about. You may know that I am a teacher with a middle managament position. I was on the sick from mid-October with BP problems and that led straight into my maternity leave in January.

My paid leave finishes 3 weeks before the summer and we have already decided that I should take 2 weeks unpaid. Now here is the dilemma. Do I go back to work for the final week (only 4 days) or do I go backto work on the first week of the holidays (Which i am apparently allowed to do and get full pay )
Might seem an odd question really - BUT!!! I havent been at work for months and months. Also I am moving classrooms and changing roles slightly. I think it may be better to go back to work for that final week. No teaching to be done and can do my moving etc on the schools time rather than going in during the holidays. Also, in terms of easing myself back in, it would be better to return without pressure.

BUT!!!! FEEDING. I am finding it really hard to predict how feeding will be.......it is only 2 months away (mid July) and if harry is anything like he is now, then he will be hidden in my cupbaord at work!!!!

What do you think ladies? Any ideas/comments....

I have to give them at least 28 days notice of when I am going to return...so only have a few weeks to decide

Cant believe I am thinking about work
grrrr

Hi, i'm mew to this. My name is Emma and i have a 10week old baby called Dylan, just reading your threads re sleeping and feeding. Dylan weighed 10lb 4 oz at birth and last week he was 13lb 11oz. he is mainly breastfed 4hrly in day then given 8oz formula feed at night and sleeps through from 9.30p.m until 7 a.m. Seems to be going well except i find it hard as daddy takes a back seat much of the time, and sometimes i feel im on my own.

Welcome Emma and Dylan ,

Hope we will be seeing more of you in here. wish I could stay longer but I have to feed Kieran and put him to bed.

Hi everyone. This is my first post since I let everyone know that Lauren had arrived on March 9th. Have been staying at my folks as our renovations are still not complete. Have missed my daily mumsnet fix and catching up with all the other March mums.
Lauren will be 10 weeks on Wednesday and is now weighing 12.5 pounds and is 60cm tall. Apparently my clinic sister says this is the height and weight of a 3.5 month old! She is really a big baby and has big hands and feet. Her face is chubby but the rest of her body is slim.
I couldn't come right with the B/F and she has been on formula since the 2nd week - she wouldn't latch and it was a nightmare for both of us. She has mild reflux and is on an anti-reflux formula which is fantastic. Since I changed her to this she doesn't sick up at all and is fuller for longer.
I have been lucky that she has been a pretty good night sleeper since the early days. I put her down at about 6:45, she wakes between 2 and 3 for a bottle, goes straight down again and wakes at about 7:00. Being at my mums I have her in her little bed next to me at night. She drives me mad - makes so much noise all night long! She won't sleep on her back, so is on her side with a wedge thingy.
She is a happy, smiley little thing, but my major problem is that she won't nap in the morning or late afternoon. Was sleeping well for her long nap, but the last few days even that has gone up in smoke!! I can see she's tired as she becomes a misery but she won't go down. Anyone else battling with naps?