Sept 08: last year they were cute little bundles that smelt of milk and vanilla, but now they've been replaced with a babyzilla!

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

A new thread for us as the last one was running low.

DD has always had sleep ishoooooos but in the last month she's just started sleeping nearly through, she will wake up once a night but she goes back to sleep on her own, it's been 16 months of God awful nights but she's got there in the end only to be thrown out again with her teeth but even then it's not been as bad as she was. I did controlled crying and it worked. I had tried everything up until then though and finally at 14m I'd had enough. I was very gentle and never left her for more than 5 mins and thankfully it really worked and she can settle herself now.

She sleeps from about 19:30 to 06:30 and has 1.5-2 hrs in the afternoon.

I'm not really sure why C has a morning sleep. At nursery, at home and at nana's she goes down about 10am for an hour or so and she doesn't generally wake up til 7.15. But she seems to need a nap in the morning to give her energy for the rest of the day and even when we've been driving in the afternoon she rarely falls asleep. It's a bit bizarre but works for her.

And whilst we never leave her to cry, if she wakes in the night we won't rush into her immediately (DP did this for a while so I let him get on with it and refused to play his game as I disagreed! He soon stopped when he realised it was always him getting up to her )
We will leave her for a few mins and she re-settles herself about 50/60% of the time. If not, we'll go in but don't pick up or talk just shush shush and stand over her until she falls back asleep. Obviously if she's ill or teeth etc, then it's a different matter, worst case I'll bring her in with us or sleep in her room on a mattress.

DD sleeps from about 19:12 until about 6am. She will wake up sometimes and will usually settle herself (she called out Mummy in the night last night but then went straight back)but sometimes we have to go in. She's pretty good - I can pick her up and cuddle her and she'll always go straight back down.

The only time there is an issue is if she gets woken up in the first hour after she has gone to bed. Then she's a nightmare to get back down and will keep waking every 10 mins or so for about 2 hours.

At nursery, bizarrely now she's in Toddler Room and in a sleeping bag on the floor rather than in a cot she's doing a good two hours whereas she was only doing 1 hour before.

Sorry am about to brag now - I've been asking her about her body parts this week and she knows how to say and point to bum, tum, head, nose, mouth, eyes, teeth, fingers and toes!

You brag away Sunshine, it's lovely when they're learning things isn't it?

Ds's new thing this week is an obsession with the shoe cupboard. It has its advantages though as you can ask him to go and get his shoes and mummy shoes - and he does!

DS sleeps from 7pm-7am and has two hours nap at lunchtime and if I let him he would probably have another hour at lunchtime but I don't as that leads to early morning waking.

I love those beanbag chairs ponymum, they're soo cute! And the big news in our town is JoJo Maman Bebe are opening a shop next month - hurrah!

Sob!!!!! at all the sleeping babies...where did I go wrong?????

bec To reassure you, I didn't mean to suggest that DD actually always sleeps 12 hours plus 2. That's just the theory. 50% of the time we have a problem with either the day time (refusing to sleep at all, pulling off her sleeping bag, bouncing up and down in the cot and singing) or the night time (waking up upset and needing attention to get back to sleep). But the other 50% of the time she actually does sleep when she is supposed to so I'm sticking with it.

I'm still confused about it all though - why does she zonk out immediately some days and not others? 'Tis a mystery. I'm sure that despite what the books say there really is no magic sleep button.

Hello there
Its reassuring our babies have similar sleep patterns and I am not way off course. Euey sleeps from about 8 ( after a good half hour breastfeed) til about 8. This means dh sees him for a couple of hours after work and it also means I can have a quick shower with him asleep in the morning. If he wakes I pop him on to my boob and he goes off instantly! Magic. E also has a big 2-3 hour sleep after luch 12.30 usually in big pram in garden. No matter what the weather . He was out there this afternoon and it was pouring down. However, he was lovely and toasty, dry and warm.

This morning, C went to the shoe cupboard and pulled out my shoes for me! And today, she sat on a soft chair with a little boy and they were both bouncing and making each other laugh and laugh. it was fab.
C can also point to all parts of her body and i asked her to count the tombliboos in her book tonight and she went one, two, three!

Sunshine it's interesting how different nurseries are. In the room C is in (12-18m) they all sleep in pushchairs. They all recline flat,which is fine. But the next room, 18m-2.5yr they go back to a quiet room with cots and mattresses on the floor. I reckon C is a good few months off that room yet, she'll move when ready, she's not physically strong enough. Happy with that, though I'll be glad not to have to take my shoes off when I drop her off and pick her up like we do now!
On Tuesday, nursery has a family day - so I'm spending the afternoon playing at nursery with C and having afternoon tea there. V excited! Yay for my flexible job.

Bec you've done nothing wrong. C has always slept well since she was born. Nowt we did, it's just her and we've been damn lucky. Just as no reason for non-sleepers either, just the way they are. But it'll all work out eventually.
Why is it we have a child who wants to walk everywhere and if we try to get her in the pushchair she screams, whereas my friend's little boy happily plonks himself in. Just the way they are I guess.

Thanks sunshine - I have that book and used it for about 3 years before giving up on that whole fertility thing. Probably what I need is to repeat 5 months of 14-hour days 6 days a week and reacquire gut problems... it's what worked last time!

Taking A to GP tomorrow as he keeps getting nastily constipated, only this week it wasn't hard but too soft and sticky. Thought he was OK last night as he was in a great mood after pooing (had spent much of the day screaming), but apparently he was same again at nursery, no poo at all. Hope he's OK for leaving at my parents on Saturday...
And last night he slept through perfectly, for the first time since Christmas. Not worth it if he's in pain all day though.

keeping my place on here....

I had whining and tantrums from 6:15am until bedtime today . Nightmare.

Ugh I sympathise meglet...I had a day from hell yesterday too...just so tired and Toby is so into everything....he doesnt want toys, he wants the remote controls, my saucepans, my mixing bowls, cutlery from the drawer, dvds, god the list is endless. I spend my whole day saying "no!" Very depressing. DH was away for 3 days this week too so its been truly hideous.

becaroo mumbles to herself

Re: sleep. Toby will usually have 11 hours os so at night but only in our bed and he is incredibly restless and wakes for no apparent reason and screams for a bit most nights.

He has about an hour during the day...he needs more as he always wakes up in a foul mood.

Well, having a sorting out day today...dc at PIL and apart from taking Tom to a playdate at 1pm I am free - apart from washing and ironing of course!!!

Have a good weekend ladies x

Sorry to hear about the whining etc
dd2 is pretty easy baby though I'm sure it's partly a 2nd time round thing, because in comparison to dd1, she's a breeze!Although she does like to climb on the bed & sweep everything off the chest of drawers & window sill and they were the only baby safe places I had!
But dd1 has been quite whiney lately, or physically hanging off me, and has been driving me mad - constantly asking her to talk to me in a normal voice.
And yesterday I had one of thosa days when I felt grumpy for no reason, had no patience and ended up feeling bad for getting so cross when she decided to open the fridge & check on the jelly (2 mins after we'd checked together) and ended up spilling all over the floor / under the fridge etc etc. She is lovely 99% of the time, but certainly more demanding than dd2.

Anyway - re sleep - seems all similar to dd2 (who still wakes at least once at about 2 / 3am wanting milk) - little boy here who is a month older, nearly 18 months is in bed at 6.30, gets up at 9 / 9.30. Today was put to bed 2-5, and was back in bed at 6.30 - excessive isn't it?

Must go to bed - what am I doing up at this hour!

splish that is an extreme amount of sleep! On of my friends dds used to regularly wake up gone 9am, she found it a bit of a pita as they couldn't get out to anything that started before midday!
DS sleeps 7-6:30ish. We give him a bottle of milk if he wakes before 7, and put him back to bed. Sometimes he sleeps again, other times he doesn't. He has at least two hours at lunchtime, I usually let him have 2 1/2 if he's not had a morning nap. Recently I've had to start giving him a morning nap again, by 9:30 he'd be falling over, crying and headbanging so I'd put him in bed for half an hour. One morning he didn't sleep but just lay there sucking his thumb, but the down time seemed to refresh him anyway.
DS wore his new 3mm neoprene wetsuit to swimming today and for the first time in weeks he didn't turn blue! Its an extra warm baby pool but he just has no fat on him at all!

So sorry your DD1 is being such hard work splish It really will just be a phase and your consistency at asking for her nice voice will pay off. and . Seriously we need a emoticon on MN!

We've just got DS the tupperware bowl with rubber base which has transformed our meal times. He feeds himself so enthusiastically that when he puts the spoon in the bowl and scoops out the food it often sends the bowl flying off the table. The tupperware one is rubber and has lots of friction, but doesn't stick with a sucker so its really easy to pick it up when he's finished. And its got a lid for travel and is microwave proof

ooo I love tupperware Carrie, have a friend who does it and have promised her I'll do a party, you are all invited
Some of the kids stuff is worth the money, we've got the green sports bottle and have had it about 8 months and it's the only cup we've ever had that doesn't leak.

Sleep- don't throw things at me but we've got it pretty good here. DS2 sleeps from about 7.15pm (Pony I laughed at you saying your dd sleeps fom 7.12pm, very precise!) to about 6.30-7am usually but can be before 6 and occasioanlly as late at 7.30. Then he has usually about 2.5 hours in the aft and sometimes half hour in the morn too.
Actually this morning he didn't wake till 8.30! Then slept from 1.30-4.30!

Went for a walk in the woods today to get logs for our lovely fire. I am so excited about having a proper fire in this house. DH carried most of 2 trees back to the car and spent all aft sawing them up.

debi That wasn't me! It was sunshine. I laughed too... then scratched my head a bit. Exactly how does that work?

Carrie - i feel a bit mean now, as dd1 is generally fab too. It's probably more me than her. But she does have this tendency at the moment to whine at me at the first hint of needing / wanting something, rather than just asking normally for help first. Drives me mad!

I noticed the 7.12 bit too - now there's routine for you!

Oh I love tupperware too! I have that one you talked about carrie. Tk max is great!
Snow snow snowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

I didn't know they still made Tupperware! We had loads when I was a kid, not sure what happened to it - I mean it doesn't break does it, must have been lost over the years.

debi how is the new house?

I reckon Sunshine hit the 2 instead of the 5 on the numeric keyboard (the 2 is below the 5)!!!

DS's new tricks this weekend is to wak along on his tip-toes, and do a really good downward dog. I do yoga every week and can't do a downward dog like he can

I heart tupperware but always lose the bloody lids.

I am sitting here with hair dye on my head, I have so much grey it's tragic!

Where's Digi and Pacita?

Hello! Have been completely knocked out with illness for soooooo long, can't remember what it's like to be well again. Think we're finally on the mend (again). I've literally spent 8 days (since last saturday) flopped on the sofa at home or at my mother's while someone else looks after poor T, who was also ill and is now recovered but is sprouting teeth so still v sad.

LOL at 7.12 - if only our routine was that good! DS goes down sometime between 6:45 and 7:15 and usually sleeps through till sometime after 6am, but the recent illness has brought back the joy of 30-minutely night wakings. Fortunately not a problem as it coincided with my having an ear infection that was so bad I didn't sleep for 3 nights anyway, so i was just lying there listening out for him. [feeling-like-a-corpse emoticon]. Killer antibiotics are finally beginning to clear ear infection and acute sinusitis thing. Oh, it's been fun.

Ponymum if you haven't listed that book I'd be interested - we're thinking of trying rhythm type method for contraception after next DC, so it might be doubly useful.

Glad your feeling better Hope
Tupperware gets stained in the dishwaher and burnt in the microwave meg.
Ive had a fun day playing in the snow. nigh night xx

Robyn generally goes to bed about 8ish and sleeps through till 6 in the morning. On a good day she sleeps all night in her bed but usually she wakes between 2 and 4 and gets in with me. This has been thrown to pot this week as she has been wheezing again and on antibiotics and steroids. On Weds it was 11.50 before she would go to bed. Holidays make it harder as we don't have to be up for school so we try and wrangle a lie-in.
Daytime naps are almost non-existent. We can go for 3-4 days without a nap and then she gets wingy at teatime and has to have one then. really annoying as that throws her out for the night. It doesn't help that I am still feeding to sleep so I can't just pop her in her pram for an hour.

Had a rushed week RL friend who is 36 weeks pregnant is in hospital with pre-eclampsia. She had a headache and sweollen fingers and pains so went to the hospital for a check-up and they just decided to keep her in. She is on blood pressure meds but they aren't doing much good. She asked if she could go home and the nurse said she might fit if she goes home so she is in till Weds at the earliest when they can induce her.
She is stressed as she has just moved her two kids aren't in a school yet and she has missed her youngests birthday.

hopefully Your illness sounds terrible! Poor you. Here's wishing you a full recovery and some sleep!

No, I've not got around to listing that book yet so you'd be very welcome to it. Email me on see jay are pee sixty at googlemail dot com (letters and numbers, no spaces) and I'll do you a deal.

debs75 I feel so sad for your friend. I hope you and others can reassure her - it must be awful to be so stressed and so sick at such a time. Hope it goes OK for her.

No it's definitely 7:12. I always notice that if I get her in bed at this time she tends to sleep really well.

We've recently changed our routine a little though as we've started reading a little book every night before she goes down and she absolutely loves it. It's only one of those 'That's not my' books but she's really attentive and tries all the material then goes to sleep straight after.

It's a little different from DS as we're working through Roald Dahl with him right now. I'm really surprised how much he's enjoying them as I thought he was still a little young (he's 4 next month) but they're going down a storm.

sunshinemummy is DD still in her cot? C is still in her cot and so reading to her in bed before she goes to sleep is not really practical, although I think she'd love it. If we read anywhere else, like our bedroom, she'd get all excited. We do try and read a book before we go up for bath but one of my childhood joys was to have my dad sitting on my bed reading to me before sleep.

We tried her with a pillow this weekend as she seemed so uncomfy. She delighted in throwing herself onto it several times then pushing it away and sleeping on the mattress! Hey, ho, at least it's her choice now.

Off for flu jab later!