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October 2009 babies - Waving arms and gummy smiles make the sleepless nights worthwhile.

925 replies

HumphreysCorner · 18/11/2009 21:41

Here we are on the other side-finally. Well done ladies!

On 2nd lot of AB's and they are suitable for BF so no expressing needed.

HC
x

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Igglybuff · 02/01/2010 18:59

peaches sorry to hear your news

fidelma sounds like a good Saturday planned!

I'm a bit down cos William seems to be on nursing strike - have started a thread in feeding. No idea why and it's freaky! ruby, thanks for your reply

Flamesparrow · 02/01/2010 19:22

Oh Peaches

DD2 held and chewed her first toy today (opened her fingers and plonked them round the toy, but she then kept hold etc)

BellaCullen · 02/01/2010 22:32

Oh pp sorry,we`re all here for you if you want to talk.

Finding days really hard at moment with Nathaniel screaming and not napping properly.Wish I could feed him to sleep but mostly he refuses.Most times I seem to miss his cues when he`s tired and then he gets overtired pretty quickly and takes forever to go to sleep.Just cries and wants to be walked about.Just feel like crying myself then.
Sorry for moan especially as some of you have it every night.He was ok last night thank god.Infacol seems to be helping.
Have managed to book him into baby massage course which starts next tue am looking forward to that,hoping it will help with his wind too.

Off to bed now and get some rest.Was in bed by 10 on new years eve too.
xx

HappyTangerine · 03/01/2010 00:22

Peaches so sorry to hear your news

Iggly Sorry to hear about the nursing strike . Hope it resolves quickly for you

Bella hug-its easy to miss the cues isn't it. Does Nathaniel respond to movement? If so, try bouncing when you walk-tiring but seems to get Joseph off quickly and its great for wind (and getting us mums fit ) I am now the queen of squats!

Sleep issues really getting me down as well, am determined to sort it. Found myself wistfully looking at the website of a sleep nanny earlier. She will ccome and train your baby to sleep, taking over all the putting to sleep duties for 2 nights. You then get follow up phone consultations. All for the pricely sum of...£975 plus travel.DH almost choked. I just sat there with a happy glazed look muttering "we'd get 2 nights sleep..." Sadly we can't afford it so on we go.

I took some lovely photos of Joseph earlier looking into a mirrored book. Am amazed at how quickly he's coming on. Is there antyhing I can get to help him sit?-he keeps pulling himself up into a sitting position. He still seems to dislike the Close baby sling but I tried him in the Babasling again today and he wasn't too bad. It has a position where he looks over your shoulder which is ideal. Am trying a walk in the park with the Baby Bjorn tomorrow, if it works I may ditch the pram.

A neighbour dropped in with a present today, she has a 1yr old grandson who like Joseph, fights his sleep and can get quickly overstimulated into full on screaming more. Joseph went into one and she showed me an intriguing way of stopping it-take the baby close up to a mirror and place the palm of his hand on mirror. He becomes so enchanted by the baby in the mirror that he suddenly stops screaming and becomes all smiles again. Let me know if it works for any of you!
Love to all x

HappyTangerine · 03/01/2010 00:26

screaming mode not more-sorry,am typing one handed in the dark

fidelmahope you got lots of sleep this pm and lots of bargains in the sale!

littlepea72 · 03/01/2010 09:19

Oh Bella, I hope its not to long before you get the sleeping on track. Do you think he needs something else to take? Could it be bad reflux? Big hugs to you

HT what about a Bumbo baby sitter? You get them from Mothercare & they are on sale right now too. They can be used as soon as your baby can support their own heads, at about 4 months. My friend had one & i wish i had of known about it when my DS was a baby. Faith is just as bad, we are now going to have to stop her in the MB as she is trying to use the sides to life herself. So ive ordered the sitter & cant wait for her to sit in it!

Now im off to get wrapped up warm. I have to clear the snow from arround the house, its law here, and we have alot to do. Plus the snow is soooooo deep! I could do with a mini tractor!

theboob · 03/01/2010 16:13

happy new year everyone

peaches so sorry for your bad news , my thoughts are with you all

Madison slept through last night but i still woke to see if she was ok , we have a huge problem now that she is refusing to take a bottle , she was fine before and now nothing , it's my birthday tomorrow and I was hoping to go out with friends but if this continues today I will be trapped
snow all gone now and decs are down , normal school run resumes tomorrow .

twinklegreen · 03/01/2010 20:11

Hello evryone! Happy new year

Sorry to hear your news peaches

Can't believe it's all over already, back to the normal routine tomorrow.

Well we've had a lovely xmas break, spent lots of time with my family. Found out my sister is (unexpectedly) pregnant with her 5th child her eldest is only 7!

DH is now saying he would like us to have another I'm not so sure, was getting used to the idea of no more babies...

Igglybuff · 03/01/2010 20:45

HT I've found that William loves looking in the mirror! So much so he almost headbutted it once when he caught sight of me and him.

Bella - I'm having a similar issue with William not napping and screaming as I miss his cues. What works is watching the clock, so after 45 mins of being awake (including a feed if he wakes then feeds), I calm things down for him (take him to a quiet room, point him at a boring wall etc) regardless of whether he looks tired, then try and get him to sleep. Usually but not always works.

littlepea I've just had a look at that seat on amazon and might get one - I can't put william on his back because of reflux so that looks great!

William seems to have stopped the nursing strike for now - although he does still fuss a bit, I can manage to get him to feed in the rocking chair if he's sleepy. It's just me at home tomorrow so worried how I'll cope if he flat out refuses again!

rubyslippers · 04/01/2010 10:35

hello all

am full of a cold so feeling very sorry for myself

Rubes had 2 wake ups last night after a few nights of just one

iggly - great news that William is over his nursing strike - hope today is ok

twinkle - 5th pg!? Wow ... i am not having any more (well i say that now )

theboob - Ruby will not take a bottle from me, but the twice we have tried with someone else she will take it. Hope you get your time out

HT - I have looked at night/sleep nannies mainly because i am worried about the feeding to sleep and going back to work etc ... i am trying to unlatch her before she is fully zonked out, so she is drowsy but eyes still open and then put her down

bella - with naps, I feed Ruby until she is drowsy (i swaddle her first) and then unlatch her as above and then put her down ... she has a good feed pre nap so am not sure how we can stop it at the moment

peaches - hope you are doing ok

love to everyone else as well

xxx

littlepea72 · 04/01/2010 11:23

Just a quick one, did you know that the baby whisperer is now on sky? channel 254, home & health. Later at 4pm is one with her & a baby who wont sleep, will be watching that!
xxx

fluffycats · 04/01/2010 12:47

Happy New Year everyone

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback on the weight gain issue. I feel more positive now with a little back up.

All the health visitors have been pretty good, they are all so pro Breast Feeding that none of them suggested formula but did tell me to go to the doctors. I suppose this is just to cover their backs.

Doctor was pretty rubbish though and said I had to find out how much she was getting buy expressing and feeding her by bottle instead! It takes me all day to squeeze out a few oz's, he said it as if it was just like turning on a tap! So I'm ignoring that, she's content after feeds and to my thinking if she was still hungry she wouldn't be. Doc also said if she doesn't gain a considerable amount of weight by next weigh in she will have to see a specialist! I really don't think this is necessary, she is happy in all other ways apart from the bloody charts. Its quite ironic as my father in law was one of the people who designed the charts!! I could strangle him now!!

Oh well weigh in tomorrow, do you think they will lock me up and throw away the key if I weigh and run without seeing the HV??!!

We seem to have missed out on all the snow down here on the coast, we were up in Scotland for last new year, Achiltibuie, staying with friends. I love it up there and its especially festive for Christmas and the new year.

xxxx

kowaikiwi · 04/01/2010 13:44

Hi all
Well today is supposed to be the start of me getting into a 'routine'! Scary really. Doing it for me, not for Sadie so the challenge is to get her to cooperate! I need to lose 3 stone (well as close as I can) before our wedding in July. I can sort the eating, just need the time to do the exercise.
I had a really bad day yesterday, think it's just the tiredness from feeding her every 3 hours - though she is pretty good at going down now so I know I have it relatively easy. Lots of tears and made the stupid comment to my DP that I'd thought about what I life would be like if we hadn't had her. Felt so so guilty for saying it, but I just felt like this was the end of my life as I sacrifice it for her...anyway, I feel better with some sleep, just need to get to bed earlier. And need to get things done during the day so I feel like I've accomplished something. I think I'm also worrying about going back to work - there may be a job opening coming up in the next few months, but it's full time. Thinking about putting her in care and dealing with the extra tiredness is also keeping me awake at night .

Enough of the woe is me, some of you I can see are having a much harder time.
Big hugs to anyone struggling with sleep, for you or baby.
Sorry to hear about your hard times peaches, HT hope you can get some sleep soon. I've given up on ever getting a full night again.
fluffy one thing I've learnt is to take everything everyone says with a pinch of salt, you'll know if your baby is unwell because you will sense it, so just keep doing what you're doing and I'm sure it will all work out.

Happy New Year everyone.
KK

Scout19075 · 04/01/2010 14:47

My DS never seemed to have an eat or sleep pattern, but everyone keeps telling me he'll sort himself out when he's around 12 weeks. I've noticed the last week or two the starts of routine and today, for the first time ever, got him to nap (properly nap!) somewhere other than his cat-naps on me or in his carseat in the car. I'm so happy I could do a dance, right here and now in my living room.

(Should mention he's 9 1/2 weeks and seems to be a nightowl like DH, so dunno how he was getting through the day without a proper lie-down -- I know it was starting to do me in!)

fidelma · 04/01/2010 16:30

Our water supply has frozn so we have all moved in with my mum.While DH and the neighbours try to fix it.Everyone gets hysterical when the water goes off.

HT and all with sleep problems.(including myself) With dd1 10 years ago (gulp) I was so desprate for her to sleep that I actually got into the cot with her DH came in and we laughed for ages.

I had been missing the signs with Connor but have fianally tuned into him.He needs alot of sleep.After an hour of hard playing he needs a nap,which seems quick.The baby whisper book has really helped me read the signs and tune into him.I am now putting him into his cot and he goes to sleep.If he is crying I go in quickly and reasure him saying sh sh sh and sometimes I give him a dummy to suck on, just to get him over.It has taken me a week of being really consistant but he is now on his third nap of the day (and he is having a long one )He is also going to bed at 6pm most evenings.I do feed him during the night, quite a bit.Last night I did avoid a couple of feeds by using the dummy.Hopefully he will stop waking for the dummy soon.

I also think that the shock of disturded (lack of) sleep with your first is very, very hard.My DH has never got used to it.I realise that I have been sleep deprived for 10 years

Here is a funny wee story.

It's Christmas Eve and I now have 4 children the youngest, as you know is 3 months.I need the children to go to sleep so that I can play at Santa.DD1 knows this year that it is us.Which I am really enjoying as she is up for making it fun for the others.It is no mean feat to be Santa to 4 children.

Connor is exhausted and will not go down in his cot at all.He is crying lots so I put him in the baby boirn (sp?) DH is sitting in the sitting room where the stairs are to prevent any DC comming down.

I need to retreve a stocking from a sleeping childs bed and replace it with a bulging one ( having filled it with the correct goodies for that child)The goodies are hidden in a high up cupboard tucked away.(i have a 3 month old in the sling remember)

Unknowen to my DH and DD1 who is also still up, I have bought a nylon Santa suit that only £4.99 can buy.It was fantasticly naff.I pulled the one size fits all trousers over the baby in the sling, wrapped the over sized jacket around us both, tied the belt, put on the beard that tickled like mad and finnished it off with the hat

Well we all laughed and laughed.

I saw daddy kissing santa claus !!!!

HappyTangerine · 04/01/2010 22:02

Joseph has been asleep on me since 7pm, waking up every 1 to 2 hours like clockwork to sleepfeed. I'm used to every 2 hours but feeding hourly is a bit of a tiring one! He's in 3-6 months now .Tried him in cot ear;ier and he screamed house down-didn't perservere as the room is so cold. I can't even feel warm anywhere today-Joseph and DH are ok.

Speaking of DH-tis his first day back yoday and we have so missed him. Never mind, he's home at 10pm so not long now!Joseph seems to have banged his middle toe on one foot. Its quite red, the top bit of the nail is off but not hurting him at all. Do I a)take him to the doctors b)Get hv to look at it when we go for jabs on Thursday or c)just keep an eye on it? Am leaning towards hv.

fluffycats good luck with the weigh in. I think we'll go on Friday then head straight to Little Fishes baby group so I don't dwell on it if the weight gain doesn't match my expectations.

litlepea Ooh, how was the baby whisperer programme? Any tips? I so want sky now!

kowaikiwi get hold of a book called "What Mothers Do(especially when it feels like nothing). In it you'll see lots of comments from diferent mothers who felt exatly like you. I was given it a few weeks ago and reading it has really helped.Its natural to grieve for your old life, this is such a massive change.

I have the same problem as you re exercise and after reading a review have ordered the Camilla Dallerup (one of the Strictly dancers)workout from Amazon. Joseph loves to me to dance around holding him (usually to the sound of the hairdryer . I figure I can keep him happy, work up a sweat and learn to cha cha at the same time!

fidelma Hope the pipes thaw soon. My mum is in the same situation in S Wales and people down there are panic buying bottled water and bread (why always the bread?). This time last year they froze then burst, it was all over the news. Here we're getting lots and lots of hail, snow predicted later. I loved your Christmas story! Your home always sounds like a lot of fun and you describe it vividly-have you ever thought about writing? (I might have left the industry but can't help but put my publishing hat on sometimes!)

I think you're right about lack of sleep being such a shocker when its your first. I thought I knew sleep deprivation, doing the job I did. Getting up at 1am, driving to London 2am to 8am, doing the appointments then driving home 4pm to 10pm/11pm.I did that 3 days a week, the other days it was Southport to Sheffield/Nottingham/Derby/Hull so still an early start. What I took for granted was the ability to sleep undisturbed to catch up. Ive not had more than 3hrs in one sitting since Joseph was born. I'm sure thats why I have such trouble getting out and about, I'm so tired all the time.

I know it wil get better and we'll sort it. Plus he's such a joy, even when he's a grump. I marvel and swell with love at this little person DH and I made. I never understood people who said "they change so quickly" but its true. Every day brings a new set of challenges to my sleep deprived brain, its like unlocking a puzzle bit by bit but the clues change each day. Tiring but fun!

HappyTangerine · 04/01/2010 22:11

Forgot to say;
ruby feel better soon, I always think a cold is much worse when its freezing outside

Igglyhow did you get on today re nursing strike?

Sorry to anyone I've missed, tis hard to keep up sometimes! x

fidelma · 05/01/2010 11:37

Ht thanks for your lovely feed back.I was dreadful at English at school and can't spell for toffeeSo your commet has really touched me (although i suspect that you may be a little sleep deprived

I wouldn't know where to start.Perhaps I should keep a few wee stories about family life.(if only for my grand children)

Connor was a star sleeper until I came to bed at midnightThen the rest of the night was a disaster.I should of gone to bed earlier but mum and I were playing killing each other with laughter ping pong !!!!

fidelma · 05/01/2010 11:40

HT try some antisceptic cream and keep an eye on it.

rubyslippers · 05/01/2010 13:17

just a quickie - Ruby a loooooon ...

up every 3 hours last night for a feed
cluster feeding AGAIN until 9 pm
feeding all day

she is 12 weeks + 4 - can they have 2 twelve week growth spurts?

last weeks stretches of 7 hours are a distant memory

Igglybuff · 05/01/2010 19:51

HT - sorry I've been too tired to be online!! William has started feeding again but only if drowsy. I think he's making up for it by feeding two hourly at night......... His nappies are as they should be (wee and poo) so I'm not so worried as I'm getting food in him.

Ruby - it feels like William has had a growth spurt only at night for well over a week now........

I'M SO TIRED!

fidelma · 05/01/2010 21:14

I will be off line until Friday as we are moving into our cottage.bad weather.

devilsadvocaat · 05/01/2010 21:38

hi,

lots of snow here today, looks like i won't be ble to get charlie's imms done tomorrow. he'll be 15 weeks on fri so we are late. dh says we are unlikely to be n contact with anyone anyway but i still don't like it. am hoping dh's school will be closed tomorrow too!

find being stuck at home difficult with ds1 who needs to get out for a walk every day but the snow is quite magical

we had a few bad nights with charlie where he was crying a lot in the night. it seems to have passed now and he has been making up for it the last couple of days by snoozing more in the day. i have also started putting him to bed at 7.30 ish with ds1.

today bed at 7
fed at 8
still asleep now at 9.30

not sure whether to wake him when i go to bed or not...

it's great to have my arms free in the evening.

fidelma - hope you get back home soon

ht - i'd chat to hv if he doesn't seem bothered by it.

x

rubyslippers · 06/01/2010 07:35

morning all

snow here so DS is off nursery

iggly - at least william is nursing - you are having a hard time of it though
fidelma - good luck with the move
devils - how was charlie's night?

I know loads of people who swear by dream feeds etc but i have never done that ... did you give him more food?

Ruby screamed last night like i have never heard - she was inconsolable ... i ended up giving her some calpol as i wasn't sure if it was her teeth or not ... she did calm down but she was so upset. Still not sure what the issue was

devilsadvocaat · 06/01/2010 11:21

ruby, that is exactly what happened with charlie over the weekend. he woke at 330 am and at 530 am dh came to take over as was still screaming. never experienced that before with either dc.

charlie actually woke about 15mins after that post! so i fed him for an hour and he still woke twice for feeding in the night.

dh's school is closed - hooray - so ds1 and dh have gone to the park for snow fun. feel a bit that i can't go too. dh says he will mind charlie this afternoon and ds1 and i can go to the garden.