November 09 - rolling, laughing and cutting teeth ... but us mama's are still not getting sleep!!

[scarlotti]

New thread for us

Apparently toddlers ask on average 400 questions a day mine is no different to anyone elses!!

hobnob loving the bvvv conversation!

Laugs guess your hv isn't allowed to 'recommend' it yet but thinks it's a good idea.

Well, I took Ioan to the CM as I rang and she said it was fine. He had a good time and so all went well. Was strange dropping him off and then returning home child free ... did you hear that .. child free!!!! That's such a rare state for me these days! Started dd's dress with my Mum which was really lovely, quality bonding time

Did another mushed up tea (swede and parsnip) and he loved it!

SirB your filling will be fine (and free!!) the injection numbs everything and there's no pain after.

Scarlotti glad it went well - both the CM and the dress! What colour is it going to be? nosey and still remembers her prom emotion

I have to pay for one of them if I want it in white I think I will pay for it as its on the bottom and the rest of my teeth are perfect £40 I can't afford... sighs Thank you for the reassurance though!

Sorry for not commenting on your posts but I'm just soo tired. Had another bad night here just as things seemed to be improving. She has been in my bed for almost the whole night as she was sick but she had started to sleep longer in the cot and then the rest of the night in my bed where she slept rather well.
Last night it was impossible to get her back to the cot when she woke up the first time (as usual 35min after the inital going to bed). But even in my bed she didn't sleep well and woke up many times (I even put her on the belly for a while)
I'm now at a point where I wonder how I will ever be able to deal with bigger problems if I can not even sort out sleeping and feeding patterns of a 5 and a half month old. Or even having a second child

Sorry for moaning, I hope everybody else had a good night!

ursi sorry you're having a hard time. If it's of any reassurance, I'm going through the same problem as well. We moved C to his cot 3 nights a go. The first night was ok and he slept for 5 hours in his own bed, then moved to mine for the rest of the night. Last night was terrible, C woke up after 1.5hrs of putting him down and then wanted me all night. This has slightly got worse with the cot transfer, but when he was in the hammock he would wake me after a few hours and want to co-sleep. I'm so tired that I can't find the energy to sort this out either. When I give C space in the bed, I find he makes his way over to me for cuddles or feeding. I'm not getting any space and wake up with backache. It will get sorted out and don't be hard on yourself about it. Sleep is one of the biggest hurdles with babies/children. It has no reflection on your parenting skills. DS1 was a great sleeper and this little monkey doesn't seem to be following his brother! I'm hoping once weaning is in full flow that this will help . I have read that a BF baby may not sleep through until they're a year old. Hoping this isn't the case for us!!

hobnob nursery does not curb the constant verbal diarrhoea I am afraid, it makes it worse as they have even more to talk and new bad habits (raspberry blowing, constant talking about poo for some reason). DD actually talks in her sleep too! But luckily she is excellent at self play so she will happily make up stories with her bears. But her continuous questions from 6:30am til sometimes gone 8pm is quite wearing sometimes 'mummy, is this a banana?, what colour is it? where does it come from? where do I come from? where did you come from? and daddy? and Reuben? and polo? and meggie? and ....' all the friends, family etc. She clearly gets if from me though . She has now taken to telling stories to reuben. He is a prince and she is a princess and they are going to go fight dragons this morning

ursi sorry to hear you had such a bad night . I know this is not going to help much but it does get better, and it is not a reflection on your abilities to manage a baby, they cannot tell you what they want so it is up to us to try to figure that out for them, and it is not always easy to do at all. I hope you have some time today to rest a little.

Ursi you are not alone, we have had several nights now where Ioan has almost woken hourly. He has a cold too. I think if they are poorly it disturbs their sleep, and also around now is a huge developmental milestone for them as they are learning so many new things. This also disturbs sleep.
Another thing to remember is that everyone else's baby is the same at this age. Formula fed babies can sleep more at this age, but that is because the formula fills them up more. Bf babies wake for quite a while. DS1 was formula fed and still woke for a feed until 8 months.
Sleeping through is actually sleeping for 5 hours at a stretch, so people who say their baby sleeps through are still probably waking at least once.

SirB is the filling at the front then? Tbh, you won't see a filling at the back even if it's at the bottom unless you really open wide. Just mentioning as it might save you £40! Prom dress is a strapless emerald green satin dress with a lace bodice and skirt overlay. So far it's going ok!!

Mum is staying so dh was back in with me last night. Was fine until Ioan came in after his 3am feed, then I spent the rest of the night squished up making sure Ioan didn't get squashed as dh had a good half of the bed [grr emoticon]

Ursi you will be able to deal with the bigger problems and definitely have more children. I'm here on number three! Things always seem ten times more bleak with lack of sleep. I know! Things will get better, I promise. I think we're all suffering at the mo. with sleepless babies.

Toby has infected eczema around his eyes at the mo. and is on antibiotics that seem to be upsetting his tummy. He's crying in pain when he feeds and he's vomiting much more than normal. But stomach ache, nausea, diaaa-trots (can't spell) are the side effects so I have to keep giving him the medicine and just give him lots of cuddles. I hate antibiotics, he's so young.

Besides that, we're having a nice school holidays. I've just painted a fence panel and boiling some carrots for Toby.

Hello All

Sorry to hear there are still some poorly babies out there. Poor little Toby, Paula and Ioan!

Scarlotti you were right about James, it was just a phase and he's back to 'normal' now, sleeping reasonably well. He is, however mostly getting by on 3 half hour naps a day so I've had v little time to try and keep up with all the chat here as I've been organising skips, heaving turf and dong the usual chores too in those precious little windows of oppertunity. Evenings I have had a bit more energy so have been working on editing a DVD of footage of my nephew and niece. The video was shot Dec 2008 and this DVD was MEANT to be my sister's Christmas present for that year. . Oops.

Who showed Isla the no sleep cry solution?

own up.

hobnob, Paula is just trying to hide behind her toys so you might have found the culprit...

Thanks to everybody for your kind words.
It's just annoying as every time when things seem to improve we take two steps back. Maybe she is still sicker than I can see.
Anyway, I keep forgetting to share one experience of how to bring temperature down. My mum used to do this with us and I tried once with Paula and it worked really well. Don't know the right word for it in English but basically you wrap a wet towel around the lower legs. It doesn't have to be cold (and it seems to work better with a little bit of vinager but mum always used just water). Then you wrap a dry thicker one around and maybe, if in bed, a waterproof thing between legs and sheets. My mum used to cover us well but I googled and apparently you shouldn't do that. As Paula moves too much I used two layers of leg warmers and it worked incredibly well. She had them on for about 20min and the temperature went down for about half a degree.

i am soo sick of being covered in milk...does anyone else with coughing child get all their milk thrown up on them??

dont be too jealous but i off to peppa pig in concert this afternoon!! front row tickets...seemed good idea at the time...hopefully will get to dance with daddy pig..

there is a thread giving our about primark and toddler t-shirts with 'future wag' on them, i had just bought one this am as thought it was quite amusing!!

I think my 2 have a sickness bug weston. DD1 was sick twice this morning which is almost unheard of for her, and DD2 has been much sickier than usual and extremely clingy. This is where baby wipes come into their own! I never usually use them so still have my Bounty stash..

Ioan always brings up milk after every feed I go through a pair of jeans every two days, and that's only because I don't wash them every day!
Dressmaking here so very little time to catch up

scarlotti Ethan is the same, has always been a sick baby but is growing just fine. I remember googling it when he was a couple of weeks old and discovered the term "happy spitter" for babies who spit up a lot but still put on weight as normal.

For around 3 weeks now, bedtime has been a battle here. Tonight he dozed off during his last feed then woke as soon as he touched the cradle. I managed to calm him and left him tired but awake in the cradle where he lay happily for ten mins. Long enough to let me think it might be a good night before howling for 1hr45mins. The usual solution of rocking in car seat didn't work so DP took him a drive. First time we've had to resort to that. I don't know where we're going wrong. I'm still doing the routine but seriously starting to dread bedtime. It was easier when we kept him up with us until we went to bed ourselves. Hmmmph. [fed up face]

DWB I've been trying the bedtime thing for a while now, but couldn't face the stress of what you're going through having been there with DD1, and also the noise of it would wake her big sis. So what I think I did (am I the only one who seems to have an instantly erasable memory of what they do with their babies?) was to try putting her down at 'bedtime' which was any time between 6:30 and 8 depending on how long DD1 took to eat her tea and whether bath(s) were being had, whether DH was home, etc. I fed her with the curtains shut in the big cot room, and put her down once she was asleep. If she stirred, I tried hugging/shhhing for a while and if that failed I gave up and brought her downstairs as before. For a while it was very hit and miss, and she would last anywhere between 30 seconds and 3 hours. The week before Easter I was having to wake her for dream feeds (triumph!) when she was 18 weeks old and then it all went to pot in NI where she refused to settle all night. However this week, despite teeth appearing, she has stayed down either all night or until after midnight. I would say be kind to yourselves and go with the flow a bit more. But then I know that's easy for me to say when it just so happens that it worked for me so far. Who knows what tomorrow brings?

BTW I waved to you going through Glasgow to/from Stranraer. And it wasn't raining either time which must be a record for trips through Glasgow!

hobnob oh, it was you waving, was it?

He would sleep for hours in my arms after that last feed so I know he's tired and I know he isn't hungry. Just not a fan of the cradle. Maybe I should just hold him and read for an hour or so until he's properly asleep but the whole point of routine and set bedtime was to get my evenings back! Is it too soon?? I don't know anymore. Started out with best intentions but I'm doubting myself now. DP just keeps saying 'he's teething'.

DP back at work next week so something will have to give soon!

Have reread your post. So continue to attempt the bedtime and if it all goes pete tong, just do whatever keeps him calm rather than persevering with the "you must go to sleep now" mentality? I can see the positives as our current method leads to tears, more tiredness, more crying etc etc and then drastic measures to calm him. However, whenever DP has tried unsuccessfully to settle him and resorted to just bringing him back to the living room, I can't help but feel that we're sending the wrong message.

DWB Did you get a good night eventually?

Could you maybe put him down, asleep, but in the sitting room (in a rocker, or changing mat covered with a blanket) and then take him to bed with you when you go? James seems to be ok doing this sometimes, as by the time I've brought him all the way to bed (er, in the next room) he wakes up. I also think he may have outgrown his moses basket but we haven't bought a cot yet

Also, I don't know if this is what Ethan does, but he's started having a big feed then little sleep at 7, when I move he wakes, but then about 8.30 he has another feed and then is often asleep from 9 for a good few hours. (This is a good night, sometimes he wakes again at 9 and doesn't sleep until 10 or 11, or wakes at 11 etc etc).

Anyway, I just think of the 7pm one not quite as a nap, as it's very short, but as part of his winding down time - I know then he is tired and relaxed, but needs more milk or sucking to get to sleep properly. Does this sound like Ethan? I know that doesn't leave much of an evening left though.

Nope lousy night. I think I turned my light off about 12, ethan woke at 12.30 for a feed then again around 2 clawing his ears, which I usually assume means teething pains if he doesn't have a temp. After that I brought him into our bed and can't much remember the rest of it. For the few nights before, we'd struggled with bedtime but had a reasonable night once he was asleep with 1/2 feeds.

I want more sleep!

Of course DP stayed up til past 1am on the computer so won't be much help this morning!

PS routine-wise, we have a feed around 7 then sing songs and read in his room for about 20mins, change nappy and get pjs on then into our room for another feed which makes him v sleepy then bed. If I held him then he would sleep but as soon as I lay him down he is wide awake.

We have a similar problem with daytime naps.

I don't know where we went wrong. I deliberately lay him down as much as possible when he was younger to avoid this very situation!

DWB I feel for you. It's so hard when they just won't settle to sleep at night . I do what hobnob does. We eat dinner, bath and try and get both DS' up to bed by 7.30pm. C is normally awake from 5pm so we have a couple of hours to play with to fit everything in. When I put C to bed, I lay in a dark room and feed C to sleep and when finished the feed, I wait 10 mins and transfer him to the cot. It took a few days to get him in to the pattern but it works for us. He will normally have another feed between 10pm and 12pm and I BF him and he's back to sleep.

We have the issue where C will start off his bedtime really well for a few hours (normally) and then wake up every 2 hours from midnight for feeds and cuddles. DH gave him a bottle of formula last night at 10pm as C stirred when I came in to the bedroom for bed and I was really, really tired. It worked a treat and he enjoyed the bottle and we had a much more settled night.

scarlotti Glad the settle in session went well.

Hope you all have a good day.

DWB, I do not have tipps for you to solve the problem but I know exactly how you feel. So I can tell you two things that make you feel better:

• post here and all those lovely comments make you feel a bit better
• try to go to bed early for a couple of nights. You won't get your evenings but you feel much better when you are less tired. And then you can decide again how you are going to continue.

I'm in a similar situation. Paula actually used to sleep in her cot since day 1. But due to tummy troubles (I ate too much eggs over easter) in Austria and the virus when we came back she got used to spend the whole night in my bed where she usually slept rather well (I consider 2-3hour streches as well). But the last two nights she doesn't sleep even in my bed. She spends a lot of time on me and there will be an hour or two were we are awake.
Once the evening routine is done she falls asleep easily and I can put her in the cot until she wakes up around 35 min later (yesterday over an hour so, again, I consider it as improvement)
and then the problem start. It didn't come to my mind to take her back to the living room and I'm not sure if I will try that as I think she would then completely wake up (I might be wrong though).
But sometimes I go to bed really early, play a rather stupid game on my phone (I do have an impressive highscore) and wait until she seems to wake up for the first time. I then put my hand on her chest or even take her out before she fully wakes up and this way I can at least stretch the first unit.
I have this idea from the no cry sleep solution and I found it quite useful and working before we went to Austria.
An other thing which seemed to improve things when she was just a normal bad sleeper: We played in the cot during the day so she learned that it was a good and safe place and things really improved.
Well, I hope things will soon improve for you or that you feel at least better about it

DWB have you tried using a sleep sack? There's a line of thought that says that the change in temp as the baby hits the cradle can set them off? If they are all ready snuggly in their sleeping bag it's less of a shock.

Yep FP that wee 7pm nap rings bells. She wasn't ready to go down at that time for ages and was up until 10 or 11, then 9 and then suddenly just slept through the evening. No tips, just magic

I have the same problem during the day. Unless we are out in the pram, nap time is a huge battle. I'm feeling chuffed because I succeeded today where I've failed for weeks to get her to sleep in the morning inside. I tried stories with DD1 on sofa and failed. I tried a rocking hug and failed. I tried a rocking hug with the curtains drawn and failed. I tried singing twinkle twinkle and putting her down and leaving the room and failed spectacularly. I knew she was really tired by this point because she would settle down and then, just on the brink of sleep, she would remember that she's not happy with this situation and then just raise merry hell again. So I put her on her tummy and she calmed down immediately and a few minutes of rubbing her back and shhhhing did the trick. Only took an hour and poor DD1 gets the brunt of my grumpiness, being told to leave the room all the time and play QUIETLY in her room by herself. Not fair . On the bright side I got a shower and even time to clean the shower after I'd finished . DWB I wonder too what I've done to create this situation but I think the answer has to be that all babies are different and have different needs. Both of mine were nap-phobes but DD1 soon turned into a sleeper extraordinaire of her own accord. Speaking of which, I'd better go and snatch some quality time whilst the going is good.