June 08: I see it, I want it, it's mine!

[spongebrainmaternitypants]

Welcome to our new thread .

Hi, thought I'd better post because you lot might forget who I am! All ok here. DH came for 2 days last week and stayed until today. It was good, but tonight has been a bit of a come down. Crashed to earth!
Iestyn has lost his voice. (Thought that would be a good thing but it doesn't stop him having tantrums! ) It's so sad, his little croaky sound!
I have a shedload of work to do. Going to London on Thursday, then to the PILs for a few days on Sunday. Might stay away from the thread because it's upsetting me too much, what with Sponge and her MIL...

Trying to motivate myself to go on the treadmill now. Loving it, but it's too big for the room.

I've ordered a new mattress I'm so relieved. Now if it'll only arrive in the next week or so (they claim 24 hour delivery which normally means 3-5 days for us) then I'll be a very happy girl!

Ali trying for a summer baby then? I had visions of your parents sleeping in a caravan in January. I know they can be heated, but it still sounds bleak.

whinegums S doesn't have any bedtime milk at all. We tried to give him a cup of cows milk when we cut out the last bottle of formula but he's just not interested. I'm a bit worried that he doesn't get enough milk so always try and give him yoghurt and cheese most days to make up for it.

Crikey - No way I can catch up from page three so apologies if I have missed anything big. One thing I did read, Puree if yu are still looking for a private nuchal scan, I got all my scans from the london ultrasound centre. They were excellent (in west end). The guy that did ours Dr Maxwell is a consultant at Guys and invented loads of fetal stuff that I now cannot remember. Highly recommended.

Not been on as we have not had an ilness free home for ages. I am off work again as Luke has yet again come down with a virus (39 temp, cough, sneezing, gallons of yellow glue coming out non stop from his little nose). He's on antibiotics. God it's relly getting me down I must say. I have had no more than 3 hours sleep for the past three nights. Looking after a sick baby solo for two days plus no sleep is fecking hard work.

We have a new home - yes house number 2 hurrah. Very excited but it's in a chain as long as your arm so all hell could break loose. Fingers crossed though. Essie it's walking distance from Beckenham soft play!!

I'm well up for Essie's gargantuan MN meet up. You wouldn't catch me in a tent though! Still, we've cancelled our lovely holiday in Portugal as we need every penny to get this house sorted so maybe i'll change my mind!!

Sorry I've been crap but was ill myself, then had ill baby, ill partner and now ill baby again. Am pff tp bed now. Shattered. xx

Feeling much more alert - just did 30 mins on the treadmill. 260 calories burnt!

Great news on the house, Amber. But not so great on the illness. Or the holiday - sounds like you really needed the break.

And I really am serious about the massive meet up.

Sybil - I love my mum but she would never ever realise to leave as we might want time to ourselves, and if it was hinted or asked of her she would have a teenage type tantrum and sulk. We get on fine until she comes to stay for a while, then it all goes tits up.

Was thinking about the ILs after posting on here this morning and in particular their visit when J was about 4/5 days old, my milk had just come in and he was crying a lot, MIL thought he had gas, I thought he was hungry. She kept trying to wind him, I kept trying to feed him, she kept saying "She's not trying to feed him again is she, it's only making it worse". This went on all afternoon until we asked them to leave. Then I fed him in peace and he went to sleep. But they are probably our best option.

BDQ - book festival sounds good. It's far more exciting where you live than where I am!

Whinegums - hope the boob is OK.

PP - wisdom tooth sounds rubbish, the mirror trick sounds good, might try that.

Ali - all our family are at least 2 hours away as well.

Essie - thought you had been quiet, too busy running?

Abdn - glad you got the mattress sorted, hope it turns up quick.

Amber - great news about the house, hope the chain all runs smoothly. The illness sounds rough, lets hope you are all on the mend now.

J found a can of Daddy's beer today and was putting it to his mouth (closed), tipping his head back and doing glugging noises. Kind of cute, kind of worrying. Weird thing is DH very rarely drinks straight from the can, normally puts it in a glass, how do they pick things up so quick!

ktpie I've got a mother prone to a sulky turn or two too! I am quite lucky in Edinburgh - its very child friendly. The city is bursting at the seams with middle class families though and they we demand a high standard of entertainment for our PFBs and beyond It was just a rhymetime we took him to today, but it was that much grander being at the book festival! There's a great childrens bookshop there too, and its nice to have a good look at all the books then come home and order them on Amazon!

Amber sorry to hear you're home has been cursed with illness - I did wonder that you hadn't been on for such a long time. I thought you might have had a massive preference for house number 1 and been in a big huff with us all for liking house number 2 Hope it all goes well.

your home, not you're !

Essie S had the cold forever over the winter and his little croaks and coughs broke my heart. It'll be so much worse this winter when it'll be affecting his speech (assuming he starts speaking by then ). Actually, I've got baby/toddler envy this week. Everywhere I look, babies the same age or weeks younger are toddling away or dazzling everyone with their vocab. S justs puts his hands up to be carried or throws things across the room to get my attention. Lazy bugger

Amber - hope you have an illness free wee some time soon, and congrats on the house, fingers crossed..

Essie - well done on the treadmill work out

BDq - Ethan's going to be a late talker and walker too!

PP - how's the tooth?

Morning all. Has anyone come across any useful tips on dealing with early morning waking? Another 5.30am start here.

Hi all - haven't been on for a few days as lots of illness here too. Blocked sinuses so horrible headaches, and A had had a cough and new tooth at the same time

Amber that's great news on the house, fingers crossed for the chain

neenz - have no idea why your PILs think it's ok to muster in your holidays willy-nilly, that would drive me mad! You're right to be annoyed

On the tantrums, we have lots of those here. I've noticed too that if A is happilly with someone else and I walk into the room, he starts to whinge and cry!

bdq/Debs - another slow walker here. A is showing no inclination whatsoever to walk. He's been cruising for ages and was an early crawler, but I can't see him walking for at least another month

On the family front - my family are hours away. PILs are an hour away but are useless - they have never offered to babysit and as a result DH and I have never been on our own without A for over a year. They're happy to come to our house and be cooked for, but that seems to be the limit

BDQ unfortunately my number one tip is go to bed early We did find that wake-to-sleep worked with DS1 when he was two years old and still waking at half five:

(set an alarm, wake them one hour before they normally get up and put them back to bed. The theory is that then they are in deep sleep through their normal wake up time and learn to sleep later. You have to get up three days in a row.)

Amber, congrats on the house and fingers crossed! When do you think you might move? I hope you start to feel healthy soon! (And we're in the same boat about holidays - not taking any this year apart from a visit to family in October. Moving is expensive).

BDQ I feel as though I have read EVERYTHING there is to know about early morning waking and still not cracked it. The biscuits didn't work for a second night . However we had a funny day yesterday because of my friends visiting which messed up nap and meal times, so maybe if we have a more normal day today it might adjust.

Early Morning Options:
blackout blinds
white noise
wake to sleep
pre-bed snack
controlled crying
later bedtime
earlier bedtime

Websites to look at by googling "Early Morning Waking" +
Contented Toddler
Elizabeth Pantley
Dr Mears

AH LOL at the caravan in winter. Hadn't thought of that. It will have to be a summer baby then

Amber hope you start feeling better very soon. Well done on the house. Fingers crossed for the chain going smoothly.

BDQ. Another random theory to confuse you further. My friend with a 18 month old recently found that giving her DD less bedtime milk (after a tantrum about it being in a beaker not a bottle) meant that she slept till 8.00 rather than 5.30. My friend thinks that her DD must have been waking because her nappy was cold and wet.

Morning! Yeah, running instead of mumsnetting, ktpie - better for the figure!
No, just absent due to working lots. Also good!

Early waking - went through a phase of that a couple of weeks ago - I started a thread! Rather bizarrely, it stopped as quickly as it had started, and I can't really say what changed. Part of the problem was that he was waking up hungry - and he has been going through a mega hungry phase. (The amount of food he's been putting away has been shocking, and I was beginning to fear he had a tapeworm (joke) - two dinners, plus pudding, then wanting a snack soon after. But still not a chubby baby. ) It was 7.40 this morning which is ever so civilised, and no food tantrums.
Ali - I don't live in a warm house, and he had a wet nappy this morning, but it doesn't seem to bother Iestyn. Never has. But some babies hate being wet, and a friend had a newborn who cried every time he peed. Iestyn loves peeing all over himself and laughs.

Deb, BDQ, no walking here either. Cruising for ages now, and walking holding hands. But he won't stand by himself.

Just skimming and marking my place cos supposed to be up here having a nap and have sneaked onto dad's PC!

My mum and dad would only stay until I got home and then would be off - they are so discreet. My mum is utterly fab and makes up for the general fecking awfulness of MIL.

Yay on the house Amber.

Hi to everyone else - I'm off to bed .

Oh dear. P just grabbed the measuring jug from a drawer (I was standing next to him), immediately let go of it on the tiled kitchen floor, and it smashed into many, many shards of glass. I picked him up immediately, put him in the other room, and set about sweeping up. About two minutes later I realised that there was blood. P had managed to get his foot cut, and I hadn't noticed . Actually the cut was tiny, and I compressed it for a couple of minutes and it stopped bleeding, so no major dramas. None the less, I am still feeling like an idiot for letting him get to the jug, and then not noticing that his foot was cut.

If Luke ever woke up at 7.40 I'd think he'd expired! We have a regular wake time of between 5.30 and 6 so no advice from me I'm afraid!

Thanks for the concern on Luke - he's much better today thankfully and can even breathe through his nose! I have discovered the most wonderful plaything for him - my old feather boa! I've never seen him so excited!!

Thanks also for the comments on the house. Moving date will be one for moving out of here and one for moving into the new place. Should all be in October fingers crossed. i am beside myself with excitement!

Oh dear Ali - Luke has smashed loads of stuff - you can't keep them away from everything. Mark keeps telling me off but nobody has eyes in the back of their heads.

deb I've just put you on the sky planner for Tuesday! . iPod nearly dead so will come back and post properly later!

Quick post as done in and want to mark place- Amber yay re house and glad luke on mend. I love the fact you have a feather boa.

Am another where would check for life signs if e asleep after 7.

It's hard to tell when I have a cut let alone dc so don't blame you ali . Also agree Amber that you can't have eyes everywhere and there is no predicting what they will take to - edie keen to have a go at any glass bottle she can which is difficult given we have wine racks in the kitchen.

Right seriously done in so going to get an early night in- hi to everyone else

It's a bit quiet on here tonight. Are you all exhausted with your early starts? I'm on MN far too much at the moment - it's because I'm not doing the studying I should be doing and because there's feck all on tv this summer!

Thank you all for your early waking stories and remedies. I wish I could go to bed early abdn but I'm just not sleepy in the evening till at least 10.30pm, but will yawn all day at work! That, and in theory I need to spend my evenings studying.

Ali that was a very comprehensive list. You've saved me an evenings research! OF the options:

blackout blinds - got them
white noise - usually has a fan on in his room at night, does that count?
wake to sleep - thanks for explanation abdn - I hadn't heard of this and a bit too scared to try it just now, but will file away in case of desperation
pre-bed snack - only gets his dinner at 6.15 - 6.30pm when we get home from work and is in bed by 7
controlled crying - works for us during the night, but doesn't seem to have the same effect after 5.30am
later bedtime - he's in a meltdown by 7 as it is
earlier bedtime - impossible because of work
less bedtime milk - he doesn't have any

I think for the time being we'll just suffer it - some mornings he does come into bed with us and go back to sleep till around 6am so not the end of the world. I think I was just feeling particularly shattered this morning and it was my first day back at work after nearly 2 weeks off.

Pleased to hear about the feather boa Amber - I just bought one for my Bond fancy dress party so glad to know it will have some use afterwards!

Ali try not to beat yourself up about the jug. You did the right thing whisking him away out of the danger zone and clearing up immediately and its easy to miss a tiny cut. I once held a screaming S in a sling buried into my chest for 5-10 minutes then realised afterwards he had caught his mouth on the sling and both he and I were covered in blood. Very scary but it was the tiniest cut.

Essie - loving the tale of Iestyn peeing himself and then laughing.

S today discovered that he could pull back the velcro and open his nappy - he thought it was hilarious!!!

bdq - oh no on the taking off nappy! I thought socks were bad enough

Can't help on the early wakings. A will happilly have a lie-in (except at weekends, grrr!), but that's to make-up for not going to sleep at night!

ali - try not to blame yourself. When I used to let A use his walker in the kitchen, he used to empty the contents of the pan drawers onto the floor and I used to let him so I could cook. Luckily tho we have a cheap laminate floor so nothing broke. But he was starting to find flour etc in cupboards and pour all over the floor so I gave the walker away! I still haven't babyproofed our kitchen cupboards but really should

Thanks folks for the reassurance that I am not truly negligent. It all seems fine, and he didn't even need a plaster. Poor chap had his MMR today as well though, so all in all a bit of a tough day.

BDQ LOL re the nappy removal. P cottoned on to this a month or two back, but quite quickly stopped doing it. Fingers crossed it is a phase for you too. Speaking of clothes being removed. We were at playgroup today. I went to check on P to find him sitting on the floor with both his socks on the floor in front of him, and two bigger toddlers looking at him and me. I think one of the other kids must have pulled his socks off as P never normally does this. P looked bemused whilst the others looked sheepish. It was a funny scene though ridden with guilty looks.

Re: Early waking the white noise is just to block out noises that might start up at 5am e.g. the neighbour's dogs. Don't think it is an issue for us though. I have diagnosed P's early waking as being a mixture of hunger and then not being tired enough to resettle, despite still being tired to some extent. We also have the problem of him probably expecting to come into bed with us, so he has a positive incentive to wake up. It is just too painful to try and stop doing it though. The alternatives are either getting up, or leaving him crying/shouting in his cot. He is much more determined than I am.

A friend had a DS two weeks ago and she is finding it tough. I seem to be providing BF and HV support via text and email. Firstly she could not believe how much he wanted to feed, and now it sounds as though he is colicy. Not fun after a 54 hour labour. I have definitely blanked from my memory the worst of those early weeks.

DH out tonight, so really should go to bed. Night all.