November '09 and the months are flying by, our 3 month plus troop, and us, the knitted boob group!

[SirBoobAlot]

New thread, we chat so much!

sirboob What is wrong with Bryn? I read your FB status.

ursi Hope you have a better night ahead.

helips Have a fab time!

lemon Your bubba is doing so well with he's weaning. I can't wait to start. 4 weeks to go until he's 6 months old. I think he'll be ready for it then. Need to buy a new highchair though. More expense!

Sorry if I missed anyone else. I'm sure I have

I've not had the energy to post much this week. My mind keeps playing on DS's school. Roll on Tuesday when I get to see the school and meet with the Head.

DS2 has done nothing but sleep and sleep today. I hope I don't pay the price tonight. I've given him an early bath this evening as I knew he wouldn't make it until 7 to start bedtime routine. When he is awake, he's trying so hard to roll over. Maybe all this extra activity is tiring him out! I've got the camcorder at the ready for when he rolls. I bet I miss it!!

Do any of you have a nice lullaby toy that plays for a good length of time? I currently use the baby monitor which only plays for a couple of mins. I'm thinking of when I need to transfer DS2 to the cot, it might help ease him in. scarlotti when do you think you'll move to the cot from the hammock? I'm sure it's around 7 months of when they are able to roll.

I watched 'One Born every Minute' today. I cried almost all the way through it. The neonatal staff are such fantastic people.

Hope you are all have a good Saturday

I read this this morning and it made me chuckle.

sirboob and fruit, me too. me too.
at least my husband is coming home tomorrow morning.

speaking of camcorders. We really need one. Any advice or experience what to buy or avoid? We should actually buy one tomorrow as we are leaving monday morning to Austria. Obviously we could buy it there too but I suppose with the Pound / Euro exchange rate we would be better off buying it in the UK.
We have already missed many occasions but I definitely need a video of the first easter egg hunt.
Ok, I better get ready for the night.

I hope, we all sleep well. Good night.

Ursi Have a lovely time back home. My DH was saying recently that he wants to buy a new camcorder with a memory card. There will be no need to purchase discs. Have a look at the Which Magazine website, might be useful to read before you buy.

Mad me chuckle too ninja and was thinking of posting it. Great minds, eh...?

Thinking of you ursi. When you wake up it'll be a short time til your DH is home.

pavlov cupcakes, mmm. I made the easiest muffins yesterday - apple and sultana spice. Dry ingredients in one bowl, mix up wet in the other, merge and bake for 20 mins while you read the paper bc DH is looking after the baby bc you're 'cooking'. Now that's a good recipe!

Good nights all.

Fab article, made me laugh out loud and feel like just maybe I'm doing an ok job too!

Today seems to have been better in terms of unsettled babies, so am hopeful that the after effects of the jabs are now pretty much gone. Put him in the baby bjorn carrier face forward this morning and he loved it! My back just about coped with it although after two hours I'd had enough!

So we lose an hour's sleep tonight, sigh, as if we struggled to get enough as it is.
I've found one way of getting Ioan to sleep longer than 40 mins ... by lying down and napping with him it's lovely to snuggle up and nice to get the rest, but am sure I'm making a rod for my own back tbh.

lemon great news with the weaning I put some apple in front of Ioan at the table today and he just pushed it about. Was more interested in trying to pick up his toy! Still, baby steps eh?!
Am loving the pictures inside the Gill Rapley BLW book!!

raggie can you post the muffin recipe?

ursi that is hardcore sleep deprivation you are going through . For all Isla's woes, she is only ever up a max of twice a night (counting from midnight ). With the wind thing, it is always worst at night and I can never work out why. I suppose it just builds up during the day or they are not so bothered about it during the day due to distractions. And yes, poos don't seem to solve it here either. It might be worth keeping a food diary? Do you think she is in pain anywhere else? Does she arch her back a lot? Isla is awful for staying asleep during the day. From 8am today she fought sleep until she was an angry stressy thing by 11 and I put her in her carrycot and held my hands over her face because she was scratching herself in frustration. She fell asleep but was up and crying at DH before I was out of the shower at 1145, and didn't go back to sleep until her feed at 2. I went into town to go jeans shopping (total nightmare, never again - when will I learn that I hate shopping and can no longer do it?) so she slept for 30 mins in the car and again in the car on the way home at 5. But never stayed asleep beyond the car door opening, despite being obviously drowsy. Still, she was a happier bunny today and is still asleep after going down at 8. I hope this phase has passed. Will try new formula tomorrow or Monday. Maybe.

hobnob good luck with the new formula this week, hope it works for you.

Wind problems are worse at night as they're not moving apparently. Movement during the day, kicking legs etc. gets the wind out automatically.

Have you read the sunny side up thread on discussions of the day?! Brilliant

Fruit his teeth are just about ready to come through, so he's in a lot of pain. Plus I think he has had the tummy bug that's been going around Feeding has been a nightmare recently - am having to battle with him until he is actually sobbing after having screamed himself out to actually latch him on. Its breaking my heart

Ninja what a fantastic article

Hobnob good luck with the new formula Bryn's wind is always worse at night too - though he does seem to just fart in his sleep now Turning into a "proper" man aready...

Scarlotti that's the only way I can get Bryn to nap too Am suffering the same dilemma. Its lovely to cuddle but...

I have such a pounding headache, my hair actually hurts

good morning!
So this night has been much better. About every 2 hours. But I didn't sleep well as I am now obviously in a negative cycle. I went to bed at 9.30pm, Paula woke me up at 10 and I thought "great we are at 30min again" and had forgotten that actually she had been asleep since 8! And my first thought at the next time at midnight was "not again, this is too often" because I really thought at first we are at 30min And then I woke up much more often than Paula, I think because I was somehow nerveous about the whole thing. I'm wondering if I should sleep in my brothers room when we are in Austria. Just for a couple of nights to get myself back to normal. And my husband could bring me Paula when she needs a feed. But I guess with the change of location and not having seen him for a week, she will be too confused to accept this.

We had lots of wind in the early morning again. scarlottis explanation sounds very reasonable. Maybe she is farting as much during the day but I don't hear it every time and she doesn't have to bend for it as she is moving all the time anyway.
hobnob, I was already thinking of a food diary. But tbh, it is quite obvious what is wrong with my diet in the last couple of days. I had far too much chocolate... I guess because I was on my own. But this will be easy to be improved next week. My parents are very religious so there is certainly no chocolate in the house in the week before easter

scarlotti, yesterday I've tried to extend one of Paulas naps by waiting and putting my hand on her chest just when she started to move. And it gave me about 10 or 15min more. I guess, it really works. I'm already wondering where Paula will have her naps at home as my nephew and my niece will be there too and it will just be dangerous to put her somewhere in the living room. So I might well try to put her into the cot and stay there at least once a day to nap myself try and extend it.

sirboob, I hope your headache got quickly better. I do know hurting hear, but that has more to do with Paula trying to pull it out (When does this ever stop?)

Sleep depreviation is horrible. The clocks changing really does not help! I went out last night as well and didn't get back until 12am / 1am new money. So not much sleep here but I can't complain as it wasn't Toby's fault! I felt a bit upset last night as one of my friends I was with, not meaning to be totally insensative and crass, was talking about a mutual friend who seems quite depressed at the moment and she turned to me and said 'when you went to the doctors and he said you might have depression you didn't look as miserable as Katie does all the time, you were at least normal and still easy to talk to!' What??? So if I stop being 'normal' does that render me not worthy of her friendship?

SirBoob I hope Bryn gets better soon.

BBL, at your friend's comment! Does friendship only mean entertainment?

Well, DH just came back (and went out again to get some fresh bread for breakfast) and Paula did obviously not recognise him. At least she didn't start crying when he kissed and huged her. Both she was more interested in her toy that she was already holding. We were prepared for that but I think, my husband is a little bit sad about it. He was obviously hoping for the usual teethless big smile. Well, I'm sure he will get it later in the day.

Morning

Well Ioan woke at 5:15 for a feed last night and I thought brilliant ... until I remembered the clocks had gone forward and it was only 4:15! Still, he's back to a good length block for the first sleep so that's fine.

ursi glad to hear Paula is on the right track, hopefully another night and you can relax that she is sleeping and get some more herself. I read on mn somewhere about 'bicycling' their legs to help with trapped wind at night. I think your 'reason' for Paula's sleep requirements when you're away sound excellent - some quiet time for you both will do you the world of good

SirBoob I wonder if Bryn is getting himself into a sort of tizzy cycle? Imho (for what it's worth so feel free to disregard) I wonder if it's the sleep that's the crux of what's going on. He can't drop off, so gets all worked up and then only the comfort of boob will soothe him. If it were me, I think I'd try a few days of getting the sleep habit sorted and then see how that knocks on to his feeding and general contentedness. If you need to lie down with him then do that, you can always change the sleep association later once he's getting regular naps. I'd be tempted to just put him down after 2 hours awake and see how that goes. If he's in pain from teething then a bit of calpol won't hurt. If he's tired then he'll feel the pain more - I know I always feel far worse if I'm poorly and tired.
Hope you don't mind me suggesting...

Fruit I vaguely remember you asking about the hammock and cot ... remembered when I put him to bed last night!! I'm not sure when to make the switch. Weight wise it will take him to 25lbs and I think they can go in them until about 11 months. But, I want him and DS1 to share a room eventually so I'll be thinking of moving to the cot by say 6 months or so. Am just wondering now whether to move rooms first, cot first, temporary other room until he sleeps through etc. etc. you get the picture of my indecisiveness! Any thoughts/experience gratefully accepted

ursigurke - not sure if it will help but have u tried using a dummy?

Fruitpastels - the tiny love mobile plays music until u stop it! and has a little remote so u can stop if from outside the room!

Ursi Glad your DH is back with you. I'm sure Paula will give him lots of smiles when he gets back from buying the bread. It's strange your mentioned fresh bread. I was thinking whilst making breakfast, how lovely it would be to live near a bakery. Each morning DH I could walk down the road to buy pastries.

sirboob As scarlotti suggested, I would give some calpol (if you haven't tried already). We've had a couple of bad 2-3 days where the teeth are on the move. I found with both DS' that keeping the calpol going for a day or two worked so well and he didn't feel as stressed or in pain.

scarlotti glad the sleep is getting better . DS1 was in he's cot from an early age and we had no problems with moving him to he's nusery. I think this little tinker won't be so easy. He is a very chilled out baby, but he likes his cuddles in my bed and feels very secure in his hammock. I'm going to hold out as long as poss to change things. He will go in with DS1's room in bunk beds when he's ready. We have a small box room for his nursery and I'll get him settled in there first. I'm trying to get him used to sleeping during the day upstairs. We've had him with us for day time naps. I might try and get him used to his cot for daytime first and then move over to night. I'm very indecisive too!!

Rant Alert My DH is in bed having a lovely sleep. He does the 11pm feed, but he's a night owl and has always gone to bed late. The latest he can go to bed is 10.30pm. But, he likes to watch the TV, play the XBox and act like he's got no kids to get up for in the morning!! I know most of us are doing the night feeds, and I don't mind doing them, but I do object to starting my day up at 5am (with a 3am feed) most mornings and never getting a lie-in!! He is having a selfish week!! I'm not a happy bunny this morning. I'm stopping the late feed as it appears it makes no difference. DH is a good guy but the sleep thing really bothers me Rant Over

BBL Some people can be so insensitive. I'm sorry your friend made you feel upset

DH must have known I was talking about him.. He is awake and sitting here with DS1. He must be feeling guilty

I've just worked out how to sell on ebay. There is no stopping me now! I'm selling my Isabella Oliver pink maternity dress and some 0-3 month clothes Toby never wore! I don't think I'll be rich but it's fun nonetheless.

Fruit most men don't do sleep deprivation. My DH is pretty good but every now and then he reaches his lack-of-sleep limit and I can find him fast asleep in a corner while I am running around with the children. Actually I envy his ability to just sleep!

weston, I've tried dummies, three different brands so far. Yesterday we even had a little "degustation". It looked quite funny how she analysed each. But so far the result is: No thanks. She seems to suck on everything except dummies and bottles.
She plays with dummies and seems to think it is a funny toy but at some point they make her gag and we even had projectile vomitting. Not sure if they are too long for her, so I've tried to give her the small one for month 1 again.

sleeping husbands, mine is asleep now. I thought I'll hand Paula over to go back to bed but he was just quicker with falling asleep than me. Apparently he didn't get as much sleep in the plane that he wanted. But as he will need to drive us from the airport to my parents which is about 2 or 3 hours drive, I prefer him sleeping enough (we will have to get up around 5 tomorrow morning). Ok, need to change someones nappy.

fruit DH is exactly the same. He comes to bed at 12:30am or later staying up playing x-box. It drives me mad that he can also sleep when the kids are up, for some reason they are quiet for me and not for him!

DH has had no cigarettes today! Not one! We went to a friend's house and she is giving up with him, started today too, she has also had none, but is a bit more grumpy than DH! her partner still smokes and no intention of giving up so DH gave him the rest of the tobacco he had. So, now there is no tobacco in the house, so no temptation. He is referring to himself as a non-smoker and said, when I asked if he was craving a fag 'nope, i do not smoke, remember?!' and he is surprisingly resolute that this is it. I am very proud of him even if he has the odd slip, his heart is in it.

Rough night. Not sure what was going on but Reuben would not settle, not crying, just grimbly, and not even wanting feeding, just cuddles from me, so he slept on me for much of the night, and still woke up while next to me, only slept well if on my chest.

Afternoon
Well the massage I had booked to use my valentines voucher today was cancelled as the therapist was sick I went out to the shops and had a coffee and cake in the cafe but it wasn't quite the relaxing afternoon I had in mind! Would have loved to chill but know if I'd stayed home that wouldn't have been possible. At least I got to read a little more of the BLW book.

DH stayed in bed this morning until 9:30 as DS1 came up to me instead of waking him. It's par for the course in this house ... reason it's so annoying though is that then I took the dc's to church so we left the house at 10 and didn't come back until 2, so he got a lie in and the house to himself for 4 hours that's my idea of heaven at the moment!

ursigurke my daughter thought dummies were poison when I first tried her but just tried a few weeks ago when she was 3 months and it suddenly worked! I use the mamm extra small first size ones as she only has a little mouth and some of the others as u say are really long! best time to try is when she has been fed played for a bit and u know she is due to sleep, hope you get some sleep tonite

weston, thanks for the tipp. I've just bought mamms but I think the normal size and I thought it's too long. She seemed to like the "taste" though. So I should try to find the extra small ones. I think I still take my selection for the flight as I should try to feed her at take off and landing which are only about 1,5 hours apart and sometimes she doesn't want to feed than (strange child, I know).

As Paula skiped her last nap we thought, we just bring her to bed an hour earlier, so at the "normal" bedtime. I thought we would need to change it slowly. Would be happy if it worked though as there will be another hour difference in Austria (which she won't respect as it will be only for a week but it would be a bit more convenient for me if it is only an hour difference for my evenings if you see what I mean. )
Ok, we have almost everything packed (very unusual for us, slowly we become proper parents) so I hope you will all have a good night and nice days. I suppose I won't have much time to mumsnet in Austria.

ursi have a great time in Austria. I have been there once. i went to Vienna, and spent a day at Baden Spa, very nice and went to a classical concert. I was with a boyfriend and we hitched to the airport in UK got a flight with nowhere to stay, booked into a some university rooms at £10 a night and stayed until we ran out of money! (which was not very long, about 10 days !) It was one of the best holidays I had

Okay, this is the first night (from what I recall) that I've had issues getting the tinker to sleep. He's teeth are bothering him, so have given calpol and those herbal granules. Can't feed him to sleep as he keeps arching his back, so me thinks, tummy probs as well. I've put him in the swing and hopefully get him off to sleep and then carry him to bed. What a long day it's been..

Glad to hear that my DH isn't the only man who doesn't do sleep deprivation very well. He seems to always get the better deal. He's gone to the cinema tonight to watch Avater. I don't mind as it was his 40th birthday earlier this week. No party or mad drinking this year. I think we'll both be saving up our big night out when we know that a full nights sleep is on the cards.

ursi hope the flight goes well. We also had to try a few dummies and he soon got the hang of it. He's not always very needy for the dummy, but it's a life saver in the car and day time naps.

Thanks weston I like tiny love, we've got the play gym, which is brilliant. The mobile is a bit pricey, I may try on ebay for one.

We are nearly rolling over here. Lots of moving across the floor and lifting his back off the floor. Gone are the days where I can leave them and find him in the same place when I come back!!

Hope you've all had lovely sunny weather today.

Ooh DS is asleep, my quest is to get him upstairs without waking him. Don't fancy my chances tonight.

why oh why do we change the clocks I am so annoyed by it, seeing as we don't need to any more in this modern day of technology, flood lights and all that! All it does is throw our routines right out of the window! Reuben has gone to bed late, and DD, for some reason is still up! She woke early but was actually on time, then was tired so napped when she should not have, and is now 2 hours and 10 mins past her bedtime which is actually 1 hour and 10 mins past her bedtime! It always does this, does not throw her out for the one hour, but for hours . Ah well, we only have to manage for a couple of tantrums hours before nursery have the pleasure of a tired little girl tomorrow! But, she behaves for them all day, tired or not! Saves it all up for us