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!

Hello Lovelies!!
I feel no where near ready to wean I thought Pearl was no where near but people keep commenting that she is looking at the food im eating? hehe
I have decided unless she grab's something of her own accord and puts it into her mouth, I will wait till 6 months then offer her food!
I also want to baby led wean but haven't quite finished the book yet- plan to just follow that-I think?
Breastfeeding wise I plan to continue to feed on demand then hopefully she will cut down on her breastfeeds as she starts to eat more.
Pearl was born on the 18th I can't remember if its 17 or 18 weeks now I tell everyone 4 1/2 months
Baby Poo update Pearl had one on sunday and one today!!! so rather happy about that and obviously been worrying for no reason - as usual!

missesse that worrying for what appears to be no reason? it doesn't ever stop

Sorry!!! Scarlotti congrats on the job!!

Misssese - Bryn is the 11, so she is exactly a week younger

I just did a feed whilst he was half asleep (stirring for a feed but not quite yowling) - I love doing a feed like that. I pick him up and in the seconds I am walking to my bed to sit down to feed, he nuzzles into my neck making those little "Mm mm mm" sounds. Precious little moments. Makes all the exhaustion, the frustration, the lack of everything pre-baby so worthwhile

How is it that Reuben appears to be asleep, snoring, on the boob, and as soon as I take him off, he is able to lift his head and grab onto my nipple and suckle again, without opening his eyes or giving any indication of being awake?

Pavlov Bryn does that too... Its rather sweet, isn't it? Well... For the first two minutes!! Such fickle creatures, these babies

great about your job Scarlotti

has anyone noticed their baby stop breathing? Reuben snores like a truffling piglet most of the time, and when he is not I can always here his heavy breathing.

I was just gazing at him, observing how he was sleeping with his eyes a little open, and then I noticed he was not breathing. But I was not sure. So, i looked and his chest was not moving, and then as I was watching, he took a slight intake of breath and carried on breathing normally for one breath, then moved a little and started snoring lightly again! With his eyes a bit open!

That brief stopping of breath, is that normal for babies?

Not sure whats going on with my little bear cub's sleeping. He slept like a bag of poo last night. Tonight, he has slept from 9pm-11pm, 11pm-now, and now he is on the boob, hardly taking any milk, well he is but slowly, gently, drowsily. He just does not seem comfortable in his moses basket. We will put cot up for him wednesday when i get paid as need a new mattress for it. He is in with me tonight now, DH is on the sofa so he gets more sleep i have space in the sofa for the bear to figit. Last night was the first night he has actually cried in the night when put down. And he has done the same tonight too. It is not teething, as he is happy to sleep in his car seat for hours in the day

pav I'm sure Ethan does the brief no breathing then. Maybe 5 seconds or so? Nothing to worry about though I'm sure. I've made a conscious effort the past two nights to put him down awake & he slept for almost 8 hours last night, long may it continue!!

raggie I currently work in financial services but for a local firm of IFAs. It is 9-5 but I leave at 830 and get home by half 5. If money wasn't an issue I'd be going back 3 days but with wedding to pay for and hopefully another baby soon, I hope we can manage. Not ideal but my thinking is that Ethan will benefit when we have 2 (maybe 3?) and I'm not obliged to work full time.

misssese Is Pearl not December? I think you're 3.5 months as Ethan is only just 4 months, he's 29nov.

Morning ladies, Hope you got some sleep Pav. We've had a couple of bad starts to the night. I think down to tummy probs. He had leaked through the nappy last night so I had him naked laying on the play gym this morning to get him cleaned up, I turn my back and he pooped all over the play mat, on the rug and all over himself - lovely. Had to wake DH up as we were in poop nightmare. DH had to bath baby whilst I was the pooper scooper. What a way to start the day. DH is now exhausted after he's bath duty and gone back to bed.

Off to the school this morning (the one we don't want!) I'm not looking forward to it. I said to DH that I'll go with an open mind. We will see.

Pav the breathing thing is quite normal, think it takes up to 6 months for them to have learnt to breathe so well it's second nature iyswim. Think that's part (although only a small one) of the reason for the 6 months in with you advice. Apparently they regulate their breathing against yours, although whether that still holds true once they're a few months I'm not sure.

Thanks for the job thanks it's Business Analaysis (yawn!) but the best bit is that it is at an office that is literally at the end of my street!! It will take 10 mins from front door to desk so will be such a help in the rushing around stakes. Am hoping DS1 gets into the school over the road and then life will be much simpler. When I started back after DS1 I was in Croydon, 1.25 hr commute each way, and that was a killer as was out of the house from 7am to 6pm.
Am doing 3 days a week there and 1.5 at home for another company to see how it all goes. Finances will dictate whether I can stay part time or not too.

I had a good night, hoorah! Ioan slept from 10:30 - 5:30 then fed in my bed and we woke up again at 7:30. I could even manage a day's work on that! Now if I can just work out what was different last night ... he took more of his 10:30pm feed so need to work out why! It was colder than normal, do you think that would make a difference?!

Hi guys, after feeling so well last week I am back in the pits again. The insomnia has returned and I am utterly exhuasted today. DS1 is off school too says he keeps wanting to be sick. I don't know what to do about myself I can't exist on this little sleep every day (and it's not caused by Toby who is sleeping much better now, perhaps thanks to his craneal ostepathy treatment). I don't know what to do. I just want sleep.

Fruit x-posts, what a start to your day good luck with the school today, an open mind is all you can do. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. Ask them whether they do anything with the gifted and talented programme. Most schools do, and the 'worse' ones so to speak tend to do far more. My dd was in a rubbish school, but in the G&T programme, and she got lots of lesson time to do the advanced stuff as she'd finished her lesson stuff iyswim. Also the teachers tend to give them a little more attention as they like having a pupil who actually gets stuff and doesn't cause trouble!
Anyway, hope it goes well and you feel more optimistic afterwards.

Hi Ladies! Thanks for all good wishes!
The whole trip was rather easy. We got up at 5, Paula was still quite sleepy, so slept on the way to the airport but was awake and very interested in everything at airport and on the plane. We lost a bit of time as my husband had stupidly booked the usual small car (a Polo) and we stupidly really tried at first to get everything in (and my husband needs a laptop, a big camera, walking boots) including the pram and our nicer cloths for the christening) .
I'm sure we will have a nice time, although I do not expect too many helping hands. My parents are constantly busy. The house is too small for all children and grandchildren so they are now trying to get everything ready as my sister comes tonight with two kids. And then the rest of the week it will be cooking for my mum.

scarlotti, congratulations to the job!

pavlov, I think Paula did that too. But as you I wasn't quite sure if she really had stopped breathing. I wasn't toooooo worried as I know that from my husband. In fact, I was more annoyed then worried, thinking something like "oh no, why did you get that habit from your dad, now I have to survey the sleep of 2 people"

weaning, I'll wait until 6 months. Paula is very interested in what I eat and drink but she is interested in everything I do. I sometimes hold food in front of her nose/mouth and she never even tries to put it in her mouth eventhough she really likes putting things in her mouth. I think everything except bottles, dummies and food
I like the idea of baby led weaning but I still think for me (not on a very reasonable or balanced diet and not experienced in what a baby needs) it is just easier to follow the very traditional book from an Austrian nutritionist.

In fact, I find it very interesting how different the weaning cultures are. I've heard very different things from Japan (rice, vegetables and fruit for the first year, no meat or fish), Spain (everything depends on the teeth, with the first tooth they get rice, I think, with the teeth on the back, vegetables, and meat only when those in between front and back come out) or Austria/Germany/Switzerland where we start with - traditionally - lunch as a first meal which would be gradually carrots, then oil, then potatoes and then in the forth week meat. In the second month, you change the ingredients of the lunch, like other vegetables and you add a second meal, ideally dinner which would be rice with milk and fruit. I think in the third month you would change the rice into other grain thingies without gluten and you introduce a third meal, like fruit for the late morning snack,....
It sounds probably very strict but I find it easy to follow without thinking too much. You can see quickly if they react badly to any food and if I feel more confident about the whole think, I can leave the track whenever I want.

Ok, I need to go, both mum and dad already had "kind requests" about what I was planning to do in the next couple of hours. I guess I shouldn't be too lazy.

And sorry for the very long post

BBL, x-posted. Sorry to hear that you are feeling so bad again. I really hope you can get out of this negative no sleep circle. Is there any chance you can at least get a rest during the day?

BBL sorry to hear your insomnia has returned. Have you tried acupuncture? I found it helpful when I had problems before.

ursi glad you all survived the trip - enjoy your stay even if it is not as relaxing as you'd hoped!

Scarlotti and Fruit that is so true about the G and T programmes. In the school I was last at, the GT coordinator was great and kids went for free to the theatre, galleries, expert workshops on maths and science, lectures at the university, creative writing group etc etc on a regular basis.
BBL is there any value in going back to the GP? Or acupuncture maybe? Could you get a visit from a home start helper via your health visitor? I know that probably sounds an OTT suggestion, or something you feel is for other people in more severe situations, but it may be that someone can visit and at least let you sleep in the day? Cutting out pleasurable things is no fun but are you off caffeine?
It's bizarre what these early months can do to a person! I have been largely OK but then have had two panic attacks in the car recently, of all places! So I am not driving anywhere with the dcs and just doing very small drives on my own to get courage back up. Also very anxious about bad news stories etc. And heights! We went for a pizza with friends the other day and there is a balcony in the restaurant which another couple were very close to with their dc- the dc was leaning over and I felt so ill with panic that I coud hardly eat! So I think raised anxiety is normal and common, but with no sleep on top must be so awful for you. I hope you can get some more support with it to find a way through.

ursi sounds hectic where you are! I agree with the slow introduction of food, one food at a time, and one meal at a time, to check for allergies/reactions etc. For example, by doing this, we quickly found that DD could not have tomatoes for a long time as it gave her terrible nappy rash (common i think) so we removed it again, then brought it back in a while later, then removed it (then the nursery gave it to her even though we asked them not to and we were stumped for a while).

Also, you said your DH stops breathing, now you mention it, so does DH. I did not even think of that! It has got better recently, but that is probably more to do with me passing out rather than sleeping, so not noticing, but he suffers from mild sleep apnoea. I was not overly concerned either, else I would have been straight to the hospital, just wanted to check other people have experienced it too. Piece of mind.

Well last night was marginally better, but not great. He really dislikes his basket, so that is definitely gone today, can't wait another day. His sleep pattern was:

Asleep by 9pm. Fell asleep on the boob. Tried to put him down awake, not happy at all.

Awake at 10:45pm, tried to shh him, hold hand on him to get it to 11pm, did not work for more than 5 mins. Fell asleep on boob again. Tried to wake to put down, not having any of it (ie decided he did not want to wake!), woke up 20 mins later not wanting to be in his basket, brought him into bed, settled next to me.

12:30am - awake, attempted to shh back to sleep. fed, fell asleep on boob, woke a little as i lay him back down next to me.

3:30am - the longest stretch , wide awake, fed, slept, cried, (DD woke up with a nightmare, had to deal with that). Finally he went back to sleep with more milk at about 4:30am.

7am. fed, back to sleep straight away.

8am, woke for a while Happy as anything.

9:30am - wanted milk, actually wanted sleep, I know that as DH took him out yesterday morning and he cried and cried and cried and went to sleep after a long time, slept for 3 hours. So not milk (it was this time).

What is going ON?!! It is not teething, as he will happily sleep in his carseat for hours if I let him (i woke him after 3 hours yesterday so he would sleep in the night).

dwb I am going to put him down awake tomorrow too. I know he can do it as he has done it before. But when it comes to bedtime, he falls asleep as soon as he goes on the boob and feeds while asleep, so not sure what to do about that! I guess I will have to wake him up again a little before putting him down.

Pav We had a few nights like that this past week. Oddly we'd have a good night with a solid block of sleep followed by a bad night waking every 90m or so. I think in our case it is teething although he also has a slight cold but only snuffly, no cough or temp. We have given him paracetamol the past two days but last night was the first night he had definite rosy cheeks so I think that's what was bothering him all along.

There's a lot of guesswork in this parenting game but I definitely thought ethan's cry was more of an 'owww' that a 'waaa'. Hope this tooth puts in an appearance soon so I know we were right with the medicine.

Putting him down awake hasn't been easy but DP has helped settle him. I was just feeling quite claustrophobic with the feeding marathon that could go on from 8pm-11pm some nights when I knew deep down it was mainly comfort rather than hunger. I'm now trying to feed him on both sides then into bed and deal with any crying by patting his tum or singing to him. It took prob 2hrs last night but DP did some of that and I know it will improve.

DWB that is exactly what to do, well done you for doing it and not giving in. Like you I know deep down he is comfort eating, not hungry, and he cluster feeds still between 7pm and when he sleeps. DD did it, so you would think I would know better now wouldn't you! You have given me the push to get on with it before it becomes a long term problem. So DH and I have agreed that tonight, he will sleep on the sofa again and I will deal with any night issues, he will try to put him to bed first. Thank you

pav I think it was my DSIL asking what his bedtime was which made me realise I couldn't go on as we were but I still expected the first night he would wake with hunger sooner... But he didn't. I just need my evenings back so hopefully we'll get the hang of it soon.

Hope tonight is better for you Pav and everyone gets some sleep. I count myself lucky that mine are such good sleepers, but I know it can change at any second.

I cleared out the baby's room yesterday so it is usable as I want me her to get used to her being the cot gradually over the next couple of weeks. DH though I meant she would be using it straight away so put her up there in the Moses basket at bedtime, and I thought maybe it'll be ok, so thought I would see how it went but I kept waking myself up with worry. don't think I lasted an hour before I went and got the baby in her Moses basket and brought it back into our room. She was fine when I went in, sleeping with a smile on her face.

BBL Have you tried hypnotherapy? I know you have been trying lots of different things can't remember if you mentioned that. But my friend had a terrible fear of flying until she was hypnotised and not she is much much better!!

DWB 18th nov just counted my calendar and she will be 19weeks tomorrow! Think I have gone completely doollay

pav I fear you are true on the worrying and im a natural worrier/ over analyser so think i stand no chance!
Also on the breathing thing: Have you seen those gadgets that go under babies mattress to detect if the LO stops breathing ( they are ment to help prevent cot death). Apparently they are only recommended to people who have a history of cot death in the family as baby's do often stop breathing for a few seconds and the alarms will go off and worry parents with undue cause!
What i am trying to say as i think that probably doesn't make much sense is that is normal and nothing to worry about

Falling asleep on the boob This is how i get Pearl to sleep ( rod for my back??) but my trick to take her off and into bed without tears and waking - As I unlatch her I quickly slip the dummy in. As she is already asleep she is only using the breast for comfort so she doesn't seem to notice and carries on sleeping !

scarlotti new job woohoo and good boy Ioan !!

Anybody no which teeth are ment to come in first? I can see the her fang teeth under her gums so thinking they may come out soon? I had been told it was the front teeth that come out first? Possibly got a vampire baby on my hands

Sorry misssese I remember you on the thread when it started to go quiet... Mustve been quiet by mid November with all the babies being born!!

I think front bottom teeth are usually first then top two shortly after.

I have just had an argument with DH, about setting a better routine for DS. In the day and the evening. He seems to think that he has the right to dictate when/if/how this should happen, even though I am the one needing the routine and will be doing it. He can dip in and out as he pleases. Anyway, it ended with him saying 'i won't have any opnions then, i will leave you and your mumsnetters to bring him up'. So clearly, as he has done before, he resents me seeking advice, and more importantly support from people who are experiencing very similar things to us. I think, for a little while, I best back off a bit, not disappear, but spend a bit less time on here so he stops getting resentful. I would not mind but if he was working, he would not even be here making decisions that affect me, i would be making those decisions on my own.

I expect him giving up smoking has a lot to do with it, and to top it off it is a full moon. Just a wonderful combination.

Anyway, so if you don't hear from me for a while, or only snatches, you know why.