June 08 - New Year same old sleepless nights

[hedgehog1979]

Bit bored so thought I would start the new thread

Forgot to say - my new years resolution is also to lose weight. I really have to lose weight this month or else I'll have absolutely nothing to wear to work. Tomorrow it is then for starters - so meanwhile I'm stuffing myself full of biscuits

Keep remembering things to add (while DH is trying to get A to sleep upstairs!)

Was at MILs last night (the health visitor who wanted me to wean ago). Conversation went like this

MIL - 'Do does A like chocolate?'

me - 'I don't give him chocolate'

MIL - 'no, I said does he like chocolate?'

me - 'He hasn't had any chocolate'

MIL - 'Did your family not give him any chocolate over Christmas?'

me - 'no, they wouldn't dream of giving him chocolate'

I really think she's barmy. btw the biscuits I am bingeing on at the minute - she give us them. 'They're from Fortnum & Mason you know, the most expensive grocer in the country'. Lucky me

well it's 8.35 here, put C down at 8 and have gone in at 1,2,3,4 and then repeated 5 minute intervals ever since, just talking to her not picking her up. Seems to get her more annoyed when I go in though. She is still screaming . Feel completely powerless over this - she needs sleep, we need evenings, this isn't working. Timer going off, off to be screamed at again this isn't how I like to do things but we can't carry on how we have been and it wasn't getting any better on its own.

And as I typed that last sentence ... all went quiet! Holding breath and tiptoeing around house here ..... please send sleepy vibes this way. I really don't mind a few night wakings but desperately need to have a little evening time back, even if only to clean up kitchen, prepare for work and nursery etc. Oh my exciting life

Amber you can get hydrocortisone 1% over the counter but I would recommend going to your GP for a prescription for it and to check how best to use it for Luke. I put it on for flare-ups twice a day, fairly sparingly, plus a couple of extra days after it settles to make sure skin has fully healed. I was always told not to use it on the face because the skin is thinner there. On ds, whose eczema was really quite bad on face and body, we found Diprobase worked on his body but emulsifying ointment was better on his face - maybe because thicker? We put lots of emollients on him at every nappy change plus Aveeno oil in the bath and this kept it largely under control, then used hc for the odd flare-ups. Oh and we use Surcare washing powder as he is sensitive to everything else (including Fairy, Ecover, you name it). It isn't fantastic at getting things clean but we live with that.

Hope you find a regime that keeps Luke's under control, it's miserable until you do but it does seem to be a matter of trial and error before you find the product that suits their skin. Eg Epaderm did nothing for ds but I know other people who swear by it. Oh and lots of them grow out of it - ds is miles better now than he was and just has a few patches.

Still quiet!! holding breath ....

LOL at cockathon! BDQ, rice is fine from 6mths and rice cakes are 100% rice so I assume they are OK! I gave DTs proper wholegrain rice yesterday for lunch and it was in the nappy by bathtime!

needahand, what a result with the CC. Well done, glad I am not the only one that cruel . Well, I don't believe it is bad long-term but it is hard to listen to them cry isn't it and worry that there is something wrong or you are doing the wrong thing. It gets results tho

Systems, I often found the crying was worse when I was sat next to Esther but figured at least she knows she hasn't been abandoned. DH can't bear to stand there when she is screaming in his face tho! I really hope C stays quiet for you. How many days have you been doing CC now? Don't give up cos it takes 3-4 days and if you have done 2-3 already then you are nearly there even if it is hell! You are right to want your evenings back (I felt same) and you are doing the right thing teaching C that bedtime is bedtime and 7pm is time for sleep.

Sybil, I just mixed everything with milk and baby rice at first and that seemed to help! But it doesn;t matter if they don't eat anything at first does it.

Hi purees!

Allnew, love the MIL story! What are they like? My MIL is obsessed with wind. Whenever she has the twins for a few hours she always has to tell me 'oh Esther did pass a lot of wind' - when they don't have a lot of wind at all! I think if they fart a bit MIL thinks it is cos I give them lentils (don't think she has ever eaten lentils!). I was when some friends of DH's have the DTs a big tube a milky bar buttons each for Christmas. Am I being a bit PFB there tho?

LOL at cockathon

Systems - fingers crossed that the peace and quiet continues

Puree - wow, at BabyP - Ethan can't be bothered with moving, he has rolled a few times, hasn't mastered the sitting up, he has no staying power!!!lol. I think he'll go straight to skiing instead!

Am knackered today, Ethan still waking in the night, made most of mil being here and went skiing this morning with Nigel and boys, then ice skating this afternoon. Off to take my aching body to the bath!

Got 14 young people as guests this week, I feel very old, house is smelling of booze already, seems to be seeping under the door from the large apartment. Had to complain to them today and they tidied up communal areas and have paid us a security deposit, so fingers crossed!!

Poppy - almost forgot, great nanny news

snowqueen - finger food - rice cakes, toast with various spreads, breadsticks, cucumber, raisins(when they develop the pincer grip), cheese, pepper, will try to think of some more for you.

LOL at straight to skiing Deb and telling off your young guests.

allnew LOL at the chocolate story. Enjoy the biscuits though! DH and I are working our way through the last of the crisps and chocolate before the new regime starts tomorrow.

system is all still quiet?

Puree also impressed with babyp's moving. S has rolled a few times (more by accident than design I think), but today he rolled a few times quite deliberately. Now he knows to move his arm I think he likes it a bit more.

deb hope your enjoying your soak in the bath. Thanks for suggestions on finger foods etc. Interested in spread for toast - what do people use (apart from butter)? I thought there might be special baby jam type spreads etc but didn't see any in the shops.

neenz - re the chocolate... do they have kids themselves? It seems an odd gift for a baby, but those without them (inc me a year ago) often have no idea. Not that I would buy chocolate for a baby.

I'm not going to start on MIL, was very p'd off yesterday but am trying to put it out of my head..

BDQ, they have an 18-month old so I was surprised. Go on, do tell about the MIL!

They obviously haven't read as many nutrition books as you neenz .

'Twas nothing major with the MIL - had a family do daytime yesterday. We always said that we would have to leave early because we had previous plans. When it was mentioned that we'd need to leave in an hour (thus missing half the meal), we were not popular at all. MIL said to me when no-one around 'have you had enough'? (she didn't mean food!) Then, there was this big thing about we should have come early so we could be fed properly etc (all the other family guests arrived about an hour and half after us). We were a bit fecked off. People were late, food was late. MIL does a lot of family lunches and not once in six months have we ever been asked what would be a good time to eat to fit in with S's routine. So we usually end up feeding him bang smack in the middle of lunch. Grrrr. Will stop ranting now

MILs! They are just p*ssed off that their sons like us better than them. The meal should fit round S's routine then everyone has a good time. Can your DH not have a word? I always just say 'Xpm would be a good time to eat cos T&E have tea at Xpm' - I don't wait to be asked! SIL at Christmas didn't mention she wanted to feed her 12mo at 4pm so got a bit miffed when she heard PILs wanted us to all have a glass of champers together at 4pm. But I thought she really should have said what she was planning, not expect everything to work round her when no one knew what she was doing!

Tis more hassle than its worth TBH, and we do generally get on ok. She knows exactly when S is fed, but I think the sky might fall in if lunch isn't served at 2pm .

Agree that your SIL should have said something if no-one knew her plans.

Am logging off for the night, so night all! Hope there are some unbroken hours of sleep to report on in the morn.

She woke up after 45 minutes and screamed till we went to bed I went in every 5 minutes but it was awful! She could barely breathe for screaming, I've only ever seen her that upset once before and that was the day her hip harness went on. But, I fed her at our bedtime and after that she was happily playing in her cot (though wide awake - I went to bed before she did), untraumatised; then she only woke once in the night for a feed which is pretty much unprecedented. So, we will try again tonight, with deep reluctance ... Thanks for the support it is helping! [extremely grateful emoticon]

Sorry to hear about all of the babies with ecxema, must be really hard to see your baby feeling unconfortable.

Poppy Fab news about the nanny, now you can relax for the rest of your leave!

hh The top london agencies are

kids london

bruce and brown

Urban angels is another one but the website seems to be down at the moment but I know they are updating soon so that's probably why.

All of the above are free to join (some charge a couple of hundred pounds!) and really do get the best jobs for their children. DD1 and DS are with one of them and DS has worked for M&S and DD1 has done alot including French connection, Junior magazine, John Lewis and Debenhams. It is not glamourous at all and involves going to castings which may only last for a few minutes, DD1 has been very lucky and got nearly sll of th jobs for the castings she's been too where as others go to msny castings and don't get any jobs!
Good luck!!!!!!

poppy so pleased for you re nanny, I am going to sign contracts with the CM on Wednesday so it is all change here
goingfor thanks for that, will have a look into it later on
SA glad she got off to sleep eventually
BDQ I spread banana, avocado, chesse spread on rice cakes and toast for Isaac. I have been ignoring the guidelines on food as Isaac took toast from me he must be ready.
deb LOL at skiing, Isaac will sit, but won't roll at all. If he is on his front he will shuffle backwards and will roll onto his side to get toys, but if he cannot get it he won't go any further
neenz know what you mean about MIL, my mum comented that when I took Isaac off MIL for feeding when we were out over christmas that she was shooting me evil looks, and mum thinks she might be jealous of me being able to bf as she couldn't - she blames it on being given pethidine to late during labour and DH being too sleepy. Also when she babysits (once a week) Isaac is always up when I get home @ 9.30 so we are having to lay down the law to ensure that his routine doesn't get messed up when I go back to work
allnew FIL gave Isaac a chocolate advent calender, and asked if he had enjoyed it WTF
Wow long post, sorry

Systems, it is so hard, I know, but I think once you are past this bit and she is regularly going down well, then the odd cuddle when she is unsettled is fine, cos she just goes back to going down well cos that is her normality IYSWIM. It sounds like you are making a lot of progress... just one more night hopefully, altho it sounds like tonight might be the night that she 'gets it' .

Not quite an unbroken night's sleep here: Theo woke twice but didn;' need feeding (needed Calpol - he has a cold and bad cough... going doc's this aft), Esther woke once and cried for 30mins then I gave her Calpol and she was asleep in 10 mins and I didn't need to feed her either. She is very snotty at the mo too but no cough (yet). It is a relief to know they are not waking due to hunger which means hopefully I am doing OK with what I am feeding them and how much they are eating!

Is anyone else finding bits of food everywhere? They get it all over their clothes during their meals and then it drops off wherever they are (in their cots, on the change station and on my bed!)

neenz you need long sleeved bibs, coz it contains all the food and the ikea ones have a pocket to catch stuff that they drop

Sending virtual support system. It will all seem a distant memory once you've cracked it.

hedgehog - I think a bit of intuition goes a long way when it comes to feeding and guidelines etc. S should be on very smooth purees if I read the books (not gill rapleys obviously ) but I was very pleased that he ate very lumpy mashed banana yesterday. am definitely going to go ahead with rice cakes and other finger stuff from next weekend and see how he gets on.

How are babies getting on with cups? I remember sponge saying that they're using a doidy cup. S refused to take water from a bottle (except when he was smaller and getting some during the night) but I gave him his tommee tippee cup at the weekend and he's really taken to it. Two hands, straight in the mouth. Most of it ends up everywhere but he does like it.

Glad your night was ok neenz. We had a really good night here which was blissful. Be interested to hear what the doc says about Theo's cold. S has had his for over 4 weeks now.

goingto.. whenever I look at M&S baby clothes I'm always looking out for your DS. A bit envious of you folks down london way. If I was in london I think I'd be a bit tempted to look into it myself. S loves having his pic taken and people are often commenting about how expressive he is. I imagine its not very glamourous for the mums though!

Am feeling a bit poorly today - am supposed to be at a tutorial, but have been cursed with a head cold over the last week or so and woke up feeling pretty rotten. DH is in a grump with me (he's on annual leave today so I could go) so as well as feeling rotten I feel guilty to boot. Am off for a lie down though.

Hope you all have a good day

Thanks guys! Neenz LOL @ wind, my mum is obsessed with wind too, must be the generation, whenever she looks after any baby any time WHATEVER they do is 'wind' and WHATEVER she does to soothe them is about getting a little burp or 'a big fart' out of them. I can barely hear the word 'wind' now without my automatic cringe response going into overdrive, in fact I barely ever winded ds as a baby in some sort of delayed teenage rebellion protest!!

And I was surprised when people gave ds chocolate as a baby too, several people did. I just eat it myself now ands ee it as a mothering bonus .

BDQ That's sweet that you look out for DS. Unfortunatley he has been hit by the credit crunch as M&S areb't using babies for every single item of clothng so he hasn't been used by them for a while now.

DS had a doidy cup and really loved it but I can't find it anywhere . He now uses his tommee tippee cup which he likes as he can get it into his own mouth.

We are still having terrible nights but dd2 didn't sleep through until 2 1/2 so it doesn't really bother me too much.

All, my MIL is the same with wind. For every bad mood, temper,cry etc she blames a pain in Luke's tummy based on wind. Even if he's been kept up for hours and clearly is tired he'll still have a pain in his tummy and she will start to pump his legs to get the wind out.

Thanks for the eczema advice everyone. It sounds like I am doing the right stuff with the emolients. Will lay off trying the hc cream unless things ger worse and we'll see Mrs Doctor.

Got plenty of food intoLuke today. He still won't open mouth but he doesn't object any more or cry so really pleased. That creamy porridge by boots organic is delish - I ate the half a jar the baby didn't. Have decided not to give him anything I wouldn't eat myself so am tasting everything he eats. There are quite a lot that are minging (am a jar person not a home made at the mo). Worst one was a spinach Hipp Organic one which was bright green. Revolting!

PS it sounds like some of the moldies are the MN people who are always rude and bullying (like cod) so we may well be best off here where we are! Anyway, what else is there to talk about other than babies eh?

bdq sorry you're poorly -

amberc totaly agree with teh don't put anything in that you wouldn't eat - am half and half re home made/baby jars..tbh as edie was so faddy re eating til recently I held off making too much but will now get busy now.

thanks for all the good wishes re nanny -was a bit of woss and let dh sort it in end (he has hired far more people than I ever will plus is less emotive about it if that makes sense - I was getting really stressed about

FEeling really rubbish as have got urinary tract infection and was up til past 2 (edie of course was fast asleep -irony).

Have missed the whole moldies thing - sounds like a lot of people would have benefitted from eating more chocolate over xmas and doing less m/net. tell me tehy didnt really organise a polling system to join this special area.. its like being 16 again?

I had noticed that goingto.. Shall I email them and say I cant really see whether an outfit works or not unless your DS is wearing it?

Thanks poppy - my head is thumping but feeling a wee bit better. Really sorry to hear you're not very well, urinary tract infections are horrible.

We're off to London at the end of the month for a civil partnership so have some questions for those of you that have flown/use jars...

• If you take a fold away buggy right to the steps do they bring it to you when your getting off the plane? Does it count as part of your luggage allowance (flying with BA)
• Did you take a car seat with you? S wont have his own seat, so dont need a car seat on the plane. However, we will need one in London but I'm a bit about putting it in the hold, given the state of some of my luggage after a flight! If a minor car crash should render a car seat unfit for use, how does being chucked around the hold in an aeroplane compare?
• Will S need a passport for domestic flight?
• On jars of baby food, has anyone got any recommendations? S is on home made at the moment but that's not going to work for a weekend away really
• is there anything else I need to think about?

Oh, and specially for the London crowd - does anyone know where you can buy nature babycare nappies in London - I searched high and low last time and couldn't find them anywhere.

Thanks, I know I could find the info online but I know a few of you have already flown with a baby.

BDQ thanks for sympathy

-babyseat/pushchair counted separately. if you can eat the cost black cabs can take you in and will strap pushchair in

re pushchair you may get it back but its more likely to be put in hold and given back on luggage conveyor belt (that said they put dd's pushcahir in cabin on flight we went on but it was a little maclaren).

• some form of id but I'm not sure what - can you phone BA and ask?
• hipp organic good (as are plum) but to be honest heinz/cow and gate are going down just as well with edie.
• think about a dummy for take off landing (or bottle if you use one) to helpw ith air pressure - I didnt and the whole plane suffered

Amber, may I be cheeky and ask, if Luke isn't opening his mouth how are you getting food into him as that is exactly my problem with Jamie? Thanks. Sorry to ignore everyone delse kids at home, dh at work Jamie squirming on lap so slow one fingered typing, will try to catch up later