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!

DWB . Isla slept a grand total of 40 mins in 12 hours today. And she won't make up for her 15 hours tonight!

I don't know what is going on, but I'm sure I could choose from the following options:

• food intolerance I haven't sussed
• painful wind from above or from sucking it in aka her new trick
• 4 month sleep regression
• teething
• hangover from jabs?
• general bloodymindedness
• coming down with a bug

I was very close to losing my rag today. Everyone is coming down with a bug and my tolerance levels were zero. An awake child I can deal with, but an awake child that wants to sleep but complains bitterly about it I can't. She spent much of the day complaining bitterly behind a closed door. I just didn't know what else to do . The pram usually sorts it but not an option today with horizontal sleet.

I take it all back, DP just settled DS & he's asleep!

To extend daytime naps, the book says they're only lasting one cycle so to wait for the first signs of stirring then do whatever you can to help them stay asleep eg singing, patting, rocking etc.

It also says during the day to carefully watch for cues that they are sleepy as these are only brief windows and, to summarise, if you faff about and don't help them nap pronto, they'll get a second wind and you'll regret it later.

I'd always thought my first approach would be to sort night time and naps would follow, seems like it should be the other way round!

hobnob Have you tried paracetamol or calgel? I was very reluctant to but I'd hate DS to be in pain and not given medicine to help because I think he's only tired. I've noticed he seems to be licking his bottom gum and lots of finger chewing so I'm sure it is teething.

Tonight's successful tactic was rocking in his carseat but it took two attempts before DP could successfully transfer the sleeping baby to his cradle.

That's another concern I have but for another day... DS's naps at home are preceded by bouncing his chair for sometimes half an hour before he drops off. What to do when I can't put him in bouncy chair anymore...?

DS just woke up. Over 3 hrs to get him to sleep followed by over 8hrs without waking once. Grrrr!

DWB you have to get yourself a magic swing! can pick up the fisher price one cheap on ebay, no more hassle for day time sleeps!

Weston How long can they go in the swing for? I've noticed the bouncy chair says until 6 months or baby can sit up. DS already tries to sit up in the bouncy chair!

DWB am sure the sleep thing gets more difficult when they're 4 months or so. Ioan used to go down beautifully in his pram and just drift off, now I put him down and am stroking his head and pushing pram back and forth for a while before he drops off. Maybe it's because they are now more alert and don't want to 'waste' exploring time by sleeping?
I can put him down at the first yawn but he will still fight sleeping.
Am conscious that I am now employing more tactics than I'd like to get him to drop off and that I might be making more problems for myself. I'd love him to get used to a longer nap at lunchtime as I'm sure he'd be happier in the afternoon.

And 8 hours sleep?!?!?

hobnob meant to say, don't feel bad for putting Isla in another room. You have to stay sane too. Hope you're not too affected by today's snow forecast up there.

Thanks Ninja I was going to make cakes, and then found out she was Vegan, so that's out the window. I might keep that for me later though

You could omit the chocolate and just heat some golden syrup then mix with the rice crispies.

dwb its up to 20 pounds so a few months of use left yet!

friend made good point re. short day time naps as DD2 only does 3*30min naps - at the moment as they dont do that much physical activity they actually dont need that much and cat naps is all they need, once they start rolling more, standing, grabbing, crawling etc they will sleep for longer..or so she tells me!

at last DD2 has discovered hunger! taken her 4 months but now she will get very excited when sees bottle and knock back 4/5 ounces so hopefully she will start to put on some weight now and the hv will stop sending me to the doctor!

went for bra fitting..oh look completely different size then what i thought..

I think I've got the same problem with the pram for daytime naps. I got Isla to sleep in the sling this morning by walking to the library and chemist (for yet another prescription that wasn't there) in the driving snow. She has only just woken up, 5 hours after her last feed and a good 2-3 hour nap. She must have needed it! However I just can't get her off to sleep in the house at all. She is mustard. No poo since last Friday so we're awaiting that one with relish.

Afternoon folks....

hope you remember me? I had a baby girl ,Emma on 20th November, 2wks overdue after 2 days of induction, a day of labour and an emcs!! After a week in SCBU, Emma is doing brilliantly, is great craic and I'm finally managing to get a handle on life again!

Including getting back on mumsnet!!

Currently trying to skim through an awful lot of posts - but wanted to pop up and say hey!

hope everyone is doing well and enjoying parenthood!

My word I used a lot of exclamation marks in that last post.

Hi fubble good to hear from you. Glad all is well with Emma. Are you all recovered from the emcs?

Day time naps. The magical swing works wonders in this house. I can get him to sleep for a couple of hours in that. I am making a rod for my own back, but as mentioned, once they are moving about a lot more and using up their energy, it should get easier to lay them down for daytime naps. I did have to work at it with DS1 and be consistent.

school Well I've come away from the visit yesterday more positive. It turns out that the school merged with another school a few years ago and it caused a lot of problems. They have pulled their socks up and going from strength to strength. There are a few things that worry me, but I'm hoping this will pass once I more familiar with the school and the parents. So, he will be going there in Sept, unless another school place comes up for him elsewhere. phew...

I've also secured some work from sept. I start back part time. A financial worry off my shoulders.

We have more teething today. Very grouchy and hardly feeding. Had to express earlier, which I have got out of practice with. Managed 5ozs and can now move my arm, it was so painful earlier in my armpit. I am going to start expressing again as he's becoming more difficult to feed in public, so a bottle of expressed milk would help. He moves about an awful lot and doesn't feed well in unfamiliar surroundings. Basically, he's nosey!!

Thank you again for all your support on the school front

Fruit glad school visit reassuring.

Welcome back fubble. Sounds like you had a bit of an ordeal!

fruit glad you feel better after the school visit..

Isaac was 6 months old yesterday. 6 months!!! I seriously think I must've been in some sort of sleep deprived coma for the first 4 months for it to have gone that fast.

Sleep is still iffy here and Isaac is still refusing to go in his cot but sleeping quite happily in our bed. I might re read the no cry sleep solution as I can't bear the thought of controlled crying. Think it's going to take a lot of work. I would love love love him to have a 2 hr nap in the middle of the day.

welcome back fubble
Great news on the school Fruit

Ok, question - family due to visit for easter weekend but 1yr old has got chicken pox. Is Ioan covered by my antibodies, or not enough to take the risk? 1 yr old has come out in spots today so prob more will come tomorrow and day after. They were due to visit on Saturday until Monday. Everyone else here has had it.
Thoughts?

Went to hairdressers today and left DD with Ioan and a bottle of ebm. He wouldn't take it but wasn't upset (apart from when she was trying to get him to take the bottle) and then he fed happily from me at 6pm. A gap of 4.5 hours!! So I guess I've been offering food when he's not that hungry.
I might try and put a bigger gap between feeds now as then he'll take more. He fed well and on both sides at 6pm. I've been offering every 3 hours and he'll eat when offered.
Has made me feel better for returning to work too, as I suspect he'll just wait for me for an evening feed rather than have a late afternoon one. Nice as he can have a snack (solids) then instead.
Shows how if I just trust him to know what he wants he tends to fall into a good routine on his own!!

ninja i can beat that for easy fairy cakes but i love the dolly mixture idea on the top However, seeing as you bought a cake plate thingy at Ikea, I am going try your recipe as you are clearly a better cook than me .

fubble welcome back welcome to Emma! How are you finding it all? Do you have a good sleeper, a bad sleeper, or an in-betweeny one?

fruit good news on the school front. If they are very aware of the need for improvement and are working hard on it, that is great. Also, special measures school often to get more money invested in them. Our local secondary school had an awful reputation a few years ago, tons of money were thrown at it, and now it has state of the art technology, input from the university for some subjects, and this year it got an 'outstanding' ofsted report and a most improved award from some government body. My friend's boy is about to go into 6th form, and has his sights set on Oxford to study physics! (he is a brainy boy!). So fingers crossed they work that hard too at your school. And you can pull him out if the things that concern you are not resolvable to the point of damage to your DS.

Sleep - well. Reuben went to sleep at 9pm. He woke at who knows what time, but I went to bed at 11pm and he did not wake then. I did not check the time when he woke, but i felt quite happy that it was not as soon as I closed my eyes! Then he woke again, still dark, so probably about 2 hours later, then again 20 mins later and would not settle. It took me a while to work out that his nappy was sodden and needed changing! Then he was awake for a while cooing and laughing, presumably as he was now lovely and comfy. He cooed and laughed next to me til he drifted off, and I watched him in the dark, and i felt very happy and content at being a mother of two . He and DD both woke at about 8am [yey]. So i guess it was a good night

Fubble welcome back and hello to Emma.

Try this for a rainy day: whisk 4 egg whites with 100g caster sugar (recipe asked for three times that but it's way too much imo), mix in 250g dessicated coconut, 2 tsp of plain flour and some vanilla sugar if you have it kicking about. Blob on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 20 mins on 180C for gooey yummy macaroons. Scoff as much as you can before dh/dp/dc sniff them out.

Ursi we paint eggs and take them to church with bread and other food to be blessed on Saturday. It's fasting until that moment - well, no meat - so as soon as you get back home from the church you stuff your face with sausages . There's a big family breakfast on Easter Sunday and on Monday you sprinkle everyone with water for good luck for the coming year (that's more of a pagan thing). I'm not religious myself anymore, but do miss all the hooha. Well, maybe not the getting wet on Monday bit.

And you may be right about other tummy troubles - I spoke too soon yesterday and had an hour of screaming baby last night and a long, pained wait for the nappy to be filled today... She's asleep now, but am not putting the gripe water away yet.

Fruit I'm glad the visit was a positive one and congrats on the job.

Fumble welcome back

Scarlotti that's great about the time gap - fingers crossed he'll sleep better for it, too. Did you enjoy your hairdressers appointment? As for the chicken pox - no idea as to how your antibodies will protect him, but guess you have to weigh up how it will go if he does come down with it.

Fruit that's great news

sits down and pours a rather large glass of wine Tell me, how do you parents with more than one do it?! The little darling (and she really is such a sweetie, bless her) was here from 1130 till 1530. And I am shattered. Absolutely worn out. How do you do it?? I tell you what though, that's all I needed to pursuade me to wait a LONG LONG LONG time to have another baby - if at all ever again.

Bless her, she's such a sweetie, though, and Bryn was chuckling away at her when he wasn't crying!!

Couldn't get his jabs done today as the delivery hadn't turned up

I'm going to have some food, express some milk and go to bed - can't believe how tired I am!!

Pav which nappies do you use at night? I use pampers size 4+ so we get the extra absorption and it takes him through from 7 to 7 with no leaks no matter how many feeds he has means there's no waking from a wet bum!

skorpion sorry to hear she's still having tummy troubles. I knew there was a nappy on the way today as there was an increase in his wind production! Very runny one followed as he's been dribbling so much the last few days!

SirBoob I loved the hairdressers thanks there was a cancellation so she squeezed me in for a colour. DD was brilliant and looked after Ioan for 2.5 hours and coped with a naptime and refused bottles with just a couple of texts to me to confirm things. She did better than Dh to be honest!!
I now have reddish hair again with some brighter red bits through it - hooray!
Well done on surviving your afternoon - tiring with two fo them isn't it that's why so many of us carry on with the nursery place even though we're off on maternity!!

Right, chicken pox info seems to suggest that he wouldn't be immune but that my antibodies would pass through enough to reduce the impact should he catch it. Nephew got first spot yesterday and should be non-infectious 5-7 days after, so Sunday to Tuesday. They are due Saturday to Monday.
Do I take the risk and get it over and done with, also bearing in mind that I'm off at the moment from work? Although if he got it, and had a bad case for some reason, would I be annoyed that my last few weeks of mat leave were marred by the pox?

Am I mad to even be considering letting them come?!

Scarlotti That's good to know, might start lengthening the gap between feeds myself! I'm really enjoying the BLW book, all seems to make perfect sense. Can't wait to get started.

On the chicken pox front, kids are infectious from 2 days before spots until 5 days after they appear. Our antibodies should provide immunity for bf babies but NHS24 recommend not taking the chance if you can avoid it.

Welcome back fubble & emma!

Ethan was out for the count at 8 tonight. I fully expect him to wake up any time but he's back on the right track at least, after being awake til 11:30pm last night!! I know it's probably really obvious advice but the sleep book recommends doing the same routine every night so we started tonight with:

• into Ethan's room
• sing Row Row, Eyes Nose... & Roly Poly, all with actions
• read three books
• changed into pyjamas
• into our room with lights low
• sing twinkle, twinkle
• into bed (whilst trying to prevent him falling asleep on the boob)

We're going to do our best to stick with this every night. One question though; Ethan loves his baths but screams when you're getting him dressed after. Not sure whether he's starving/tired/really angry he's out of the bath. Any ideas on preventing this? And on the nights we bath him, where should it slot into the routine?

Oops missed out 'cram as much milk in as possible' before 'into bed'.