May 2008 - The Third Thread.... Hot sausage and Mustard continued.....

[Haribosmummy]

New thread... Hoep this one is a bit more accessible!!!

I am of anyone who has a baby that sleeps. Dd is still not well & has slept just a few hours at night in 5 days. I am so exhausted. I am taking her to the dr for the 6th time in 3 wks at 2. She has a horrid cough & cold, temperature again, streaming nose & eyes. The antibiotics finished on Friday & made no difference. She's having a nap now so will return to bed too.
We are also bringing dd up bilingual & it is going really well. She has only said 4 words so far, mama, daddy, her dad's Christian name and "alat" which I think is her trying to say breast feed me (in Italian). Her dad's name seems her best word so far and she shouts it at every opportunity! Right I'm off back to bed.

hahah!! We are only just up!

My 'night of peace' turned into a night of torture!!

DS woke up at 1:30 for a bottle... At 2:30, he woke up wet, so I had to change him completely... Got him sorted, and he decided to do a poo... so had to change his nappy AGAIN ... Took ages to resettle him and then the dog decided to throw up, so had to get up and clean that up and check he was OK (he was, the stupid mutt just eats sticks, which he then can't digest... I mean, most labradors retrieve sticks... Not my daft mutt... Runs after then and then eats the bloody things!!), got back to bed just before 5am and DS woke up at 6am wanting another bottle.. thankfully went back to sleep and only got up at 9am!!! [phew emoticon] but now we have to go and walk the dog and it's pouring down

So I am with MM - I am very of anyone who gets a good nights sleep cos I'm shattered too!!!

Niknak - Hope your course goes well. Sorry to hear your DH wasn't the happiest

HM x

Haribo Sorry your night turned into a horrible sleepless night. How much milk does DS have in the day? Is most of his milk through the night? Would you try watering down his milk so he stops waking for it????
It is very annoying when they wake up wet and you have to change all linen, clothes etc. Hope the rain stops so you can go for a walk.

MonkeysMama Sorry to hear DD is still unwell, hope the docs can sort her out. Very of DD talking.

Niknak DS1 also going through scary phase. With 'monsters' everywhere. Hope things improve.

HM sorry to hear about your bad night! hope things get better.

Was very grrr last night. Couldn't sleep well because i stupidly drank a cup of tea at night (my fault) but then DD was up from 2.30 till 4am because DH woke her up to change her nappy (!) She was sleeping! So because she was woken up, took ages to go back to sleep. And just as I fell back to sleep, he jumped up in bed and woke me up, switched on the light to tell me something had bitten his toe. Which, of course, was absolutely fine, and it was just a dream. He does this fairly often, but I was not amused, as he then proceeded to have a lie-in till 10am (on leave this week).
Sigh.
Have drunk lots of tea this morning so far. But no more at night!

Macaco we are Mandarin and English. But DH and I speak to each other in English.

aaah haribo it sounded so promising! I would second the idea about offering water if he wakes during the night and seeing whether it's hunger or habit and then if a bottle's offered he'll take it IYSWIM. Definitely recommend the sleep book, if nothing else it's a fascinating read (or maybe I'm really boring ) I still think it was right to put him down earlier and awake and let him settle himself...even if he wakes later it's all about learning how to self settle, isn't it?
He's only little, he'll get the hang of it eventually.
MM I'm not surprised your LO isn't sleeping she must be miserable as hell. That's awful she's been ill so long. i hope the doctors can sort something out and she'll feel better soon. I can't believe she's speaking WOW! DS still babbles rather than any real words. His favourite is BAM very loudly as he speeds round the house on all fours, opening doors and drawers!
DS is in his cot now singing "woo woo dadadad" but I'm fairly sure he's tired so I'm going to leave him for a while and see if he drops off.

Evening all from the depths of sleep deprivation. Sorry i haven't been on in a few days, I've just felt so low. We are trying to hard to sort out routines and sleep but it's just hellish. DS takes hours and hours to settle at night then wakes really really regularly until well after midnight. I would just love to be able to cook a meal and sit down and actually talk to DP rather than the two of us just getting more stressed and upset every bloody evening. I'm getting him up early, trying to make sure he has regular naps (for that read barely ever get out of the house for fear of making sleep worse), trying to get him to eat more during the day etc etc. We have the'no cry sleep solution' and follow it really closely but no progress yet. My days are so boring, repetitive and frustrating, DS is so often overtired and just won't sleep whatever we do. I just don't know what to do or how I can make things better!

Sorry totally self-centred post, haribo hope your sleep problems are sorted soon and MM hope your DD is better really soon.

Awake again and SCREAMING, aaaah!

Baiyu sooooo sorry to hear about the sleep problems. No ideas, past recommending the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book and watching the clock, once he's been up for 90 mins start a wind down routine for a nap, whether he seems tired or not.

Watching for tired signs (decreased activity, slower motions, less vocal, quieter, calmer, disinterested in surroundings, eyes less focused or drooping, yawning)

rather than waiting for over tired signs (fussing, rubbing eyes, irritable, grumpy)

I found I was waiting for the second section and by then it was too late really and he'd go bonkers as he was too tired. Now, even the hint of a yawn I put him in his cot and he usually goes to sleep within 15 mins but quite calmly.

Please ignore if you've tried all of this....just thought it might help. xxx

No macaco that is helpful thank you, it's usually the eye rubbing that gives me the hint, hmm, interesting! Does the healthy sleep book add much to the NCSS? At the moment i'll try anything!

Thanks for the hugs fuzzypeach It's good to know that sleep is possible! Sorry you're not getting enough quality time with your DH, I know the feeling! Paris sounds wonderful, what a good idea! It's our 5 year anniversary this Summer, hmm...maybe I should do something similar!

We have a visitor this weekend, a girl I've never met so hoping she'll understand the need for bedtimes and us not going out etc. Then I'm off to Bath on monday to spend a week with my granny who's just been in hospital. That'll do wonders for the sleep problems . Well at least DP will get some sleep cos he can't come!

baiyu I bought both but liked the HSHHC so much i never even opened the NCSS, it's sitting pristine on my bookshelf. HSHHC is written by a paediatrician who has studied sleep in babies and children and scanned their brains and all sorts so I found it more scientific than other things I'd heard/read. The basic message is that they need more sleep than you think and the more tired they get the harder it will be for them to sleep and the less restorative the sleep will be. I got it on Amazon.

Great, just checked the catologue of my local library and they have one overdue copy (someone's clearly getting a lot of use!) but I've requested it so should get it quite soon. If not then amazon for sure. Thank you!

Hey Ladies, I havent been on at all in ages due to one thing after another oh and sleep deprivation! :L

On the topic of sleep, my dd was a great sleeper from birth only waking about once usually about 4am right up until the week before Christmas where on a good night she was only up about 4 or 5 times!
And at about the same time figured out how to stand up in the cot - uh oh

My sister was due her pfb just before newyear(she went 15days over), since then my dd (preparing for cousin rivalry we joke) has popped out her 2 bottom teeth, learned to crawl got bored with that and has started walking with the assistance of the table or her vtech stroller thingy.

Last weekend dd got a chest infection and was running a really high temperature. She's 85% back to norm now but dd came into our bed as she woke everytime she coughed. Now we have the struggle of gettin her to stay in her own cot. The Joys

Hope everyone is havin a good day

Sho x

ps. kwt my dd was also born may30th

Hey Ladies, I havent been on at all in ages due to one thing after another oh and sleep deprivation! :L

On the topic of sleep, my dd was a great sleeper from birth only waking about once usually about 4am right up until the week before Christmas where on a good night she was only up about 4 or 5 times!
And at about the same time figured out how to stand up in the cot - uh oh

My sister was due her pfb just before newyear(she went 15days over), since then my dd (preparing for cousin rivalry we joke) has popped out her 2 bottom teeth, learned to crawl got bored with that and has started walking with the assistance of the table or her vtech stroller thingy.

Last weekend dd got a chest infection and was running a really high temperature. She's 85% back to norm now but dd came into our bed as she woke everytime she coughed. Now we have the struggle of gettin her to stay in her own cot. The Joys

Hope everyone is havin a good day

Sho x

ps. kwt my dd was also born may30th

sorry computer has a mind of its own!

I have to say, it's rather comforting to know I'm not the only one struggling to get DS to sleep consistently.

Ds has also started to pull himself on things - I've only managed to get one photo of him so far but (PFB that I am ) it's on FB for anyone who would like to see it!!! hahaha!!

I'm afraid I can also empathise with people who don't get enough time / quality time with their DP / DH... I hardly see my DH and the times we are together are often far too short (and / or busy) for us to really settle back into being together IYSWIM.. He came home yesterday, and I'm hoping for a lovely weekend together as DSDs are at their mums and DS is on good form... (Baiyu - we are off to Bath too! We'll just miss you!!!)

Shonnomammon - DO you think the waking might be a symptom of separation anxiety? I know others have mentioned it here, but I have to say, DS sleeps much better when with me (often physically touching) than he is in his own cot... If he's with me, when he stirs, he'll sqeeze my finger or pull my hair to reassure himself (Yeah... it's not quite so reasssuring for me!) but in his cot, he'll end up wailing to be cuddled.... just a thought? I have a friend who has a 4 month old and he's waking 5-6 times a night for no particular reason and she's tearing her hair out now... All I can think of is separation anxiety, but then maybe he's a bit young for that?

FuzzyPeach - what sort of thing are you looking for in Paris? I've just written a huge long mail, but will mail it to you on FB instead...

HM x

Morning all
We had one of the best sleeps in such a long time here last night, dd only woke twice through her coughing, once at 0030 and then again at 0505, and the best part is she spent the whole night in her own cot. WooHoo

Haribosmummy we have been thinkin that its seperation anxiety. For a nuber of reasons really. When in company she is fine if she's with me but if she sees me leave the room she starts crying then when I come back (if she sees me)she starts up again...
im hoping with time it will pass (fingers crossed)

She currently putting her heart and soul into climbing up the bean bag next to me, she is gettin so frustrated cant help but have a wee giggle

sho x

ps what do you all think f the new mn look, i wasnt sure at first but i think i like it

new look has completely thrown me, no good with change !

Will take awhile to get used to it

I've felt utterly trapped in the house for the past week and a half! DS had a tummy bug, which he then gave to me, and DH. Very violent and nasty. I was running out of clean clothes for DS and me he was vomiting so much. Then when he seemed to get better, he regressed and we ended up in A&E with him clammy, feverish, and very unhappy. We got a diagnosis of urinary infection which is quite common apparently. So a week of antibiotics, followed by a daily small dose of antibiotics possibly until he is out of nappies or able to tell us that it hurts him to pee. We're also getting referred to a specialist to check no kidney damage/anatomical problems. So don't do what we did and assume that a tummy bug is just going on a bit long cos it could be a secondary infection needing treatment. DS is on the mend now, no longer vomiting and held down some solids yesterday. Now he's better he's SO hungry for milk that I'm quyite exhausted.

baiyu I'll bring my copy of the HSHHC book to the Tuesday BS class! don't go buying it! I think the book makes sense, but despite applying the guidelines we still don't have an end to night waking. With DS i suspect that is because if it hasn't been one infection it's been another or teething.

Still on his good nights although he wakes for food, he self-settles easily. Whether he is ill or not, we have managed to get him down for the night from 6:45-7:30 and he normally wakes for the first time between 10 and 11. DS is now in his own room and back on solids so I hope this weekend we'll improve the sleeping at night. I've noticed extreme clingyness too - not sure if side-effect of his illness or separation anxiety

Hey gingerwench thanks! Sorry yesterday didn't work but soon for sure! I won't be at BS this week as DS and I are off to Bath for the week to give my gran some TLC cos she's been in hospital. But I'd love a borrow when we get back!
So sorry to hear about the nasty infection, poor wee soul! So glad he's on the mend, hugs to you for your unfair overdose of illnesses recently See you soon.

gs and Baiyu the HSHHC book doesn't claim to eliminate night waking (it thinks night waking for a feed is normal til 9 months old) but it seemed very sensible advice to me on the whole and helped with getting a routine for DS.

Well check me out, on MN in the evening and not stressed... Tried something new tonight, put DS to bed at 6 instead of 7 and (touch a whole forest of wood) apart from a bit of settling every half hour or so has been asleep ever since! Really hope this lasts.... Thank you all SO much for your help and advice. Don't want to jump the gun but feeling positive

Baiyu hooray....fingers crossed, touching lots of wood for you! that's the other thing about the HSHHC it suggests putting them to bed earlier and says that they really need an early bedtime, he recommends btw 6 and 7. DS has a bath at 6 and is invariably asleep by 6.45. He sleeps til 7 or even 8 but he really seems to need to get to be by about 6.45. And that's what I've always heard that they need to "sleep the clock through"...i.e 12 hours.
The general idea I took away from the book was to put them down BEFORE they seem tired.
Really hope you're beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel!
xx M

Hi
See I think thats our biggest problem with DDs sleep pattern.
I work 3-6 mon-fri and have done since she was 3 months old so kept this in mind from birth when doing the nighttime routine.
My mum has the wee one when im at work, so its usually 645 before we get home & hannah usually falls asleep on the journey home(which is only a 4min drive).
By the time she wakes, has her bath and feed, its usually 830 and she isnt tired. So most nights she isnt gettin put down until after 9 and usually wont settle herself either...
DP works a shift rotation so he is only home at tea time 2 of every 4 weeks so i dont see any way around it
Suggestions please

Sho x

sorry for the rable on