April 2010 - our little bundles are here!

[lineky]

Thought I'd start a Post-Natal thread as there are so many of us now sorry about the uninspired name.
Well I am slowly realising the sleepless nights thing is no myth - VERY tired!

Eilidh is crawling!!!!

She has been trying so hard and today she finally cracked it and went forwards. She is still pretty unsteady and slow but is crawling over the place!

Well done Kacie for clapping hands!

Zeeky, how is the sleep training going?

well done Eilidh. i bet she'll be speeding about in no time

harverina give her a few days shell be all over

Aww, well done Kacie, and Eilidh !! Jude still doesn't crawl 'properly'..drags himself across the floor like a lil assault course!! My nephew calls him a zombie cuz of the way he 'crawls'!!
Jude pulled himself up for the first time the other day..was soo shocked cuz I ewasn't expecting it at all..now he wants to get up all the time, he tries it i the bath, but that scares me a lil...slippy sides, taps and heads don't make a good combination for me!!
He's over the worst of the chickenpox now, so trying to get back to sleeping (ish!!) at night..both of us that is :o
Also really proud of dd..she is starting to recognise some of her letters now as well...a, c, h, m, s, o...she calls them, apple, car, h for hairy hats, m for makenzi, sunshine and o for orange!! She's doing so well..I was a bit concerned cuz they don't really do alphabet work at her nursery at this age, but even with me having her less at home during the week, she's still doing great..I'm a lil bit pleased can you tell :o
Hope everyone has a good day, I'm 7 weeks today by my dates, so will be ringintg the midwife next week, feeling really lucky cuz I'v ehardly had any sickness since christmas, and when I do it's mostly just nausea, and at evening/nightime, so I can lie on sofa while kids are tucked up in bed....moaning!! ;) xx

Well done all the new crawlers.

We now have a climber. He climbed up the stairs all the way yesterday. (DH was behind him). Better get that stair gate up. J also manages to stand unaided for a wee while when he is not aware of it. As soon as he realises though he holds on .

Nights are not going so well just now - probably more teeth! You just don't know do you.

Hope you are all well.

Wow Misty a stair climber! That is impressive! I had a scare the other day, I left A with DD playing in her room, while I went into his room to strip his bed, when I came out about a minute later DD was off down the stairs doing something else and A was at the top of the stairs on all fours (he can crawl very fast now), peering down the stairs. I got such a shock and felt like such a bad mother for leaving him with a just-three-year-old instead of taking him with me. We never had a stairgate with DD, but I think we might need to get one this time.
He has got six teeth now, two at the bottom and four at the top, much earlier than DD got hers, and I feel every one each time I feed him, ouch!
princess LOL at your DD's "h for hairy hats" .
Have a good weekend everyone!

Help. Anyone else's April babies done a Jekyl and Hyde on them recently? DS always been such a laid back and happy chap. Came down with a virus at the start of the week (spiking temperature and vomiting) and seems to now be over the worst of it but is absolutely miserable... and angry it seems. Nothing is right. Pick him up, put him down, play with toys, feed him, he's just beside himself. And sometimes he snaps out of it a the drop of a hat and is all laughs and smiles again. Then, next minute, rage. WTF??? Wondering whether he's got a urine infection, an ear infection or a sore throat but surely the temperature would be lingering if so? Any thoughts or pearls of wisdom from my comrades here? It's really getting me down and affecting the way I am with DD (poor thing said mummy makes her sad tonight... ).

sayitwithme I know what you mean. I think that whatever virus is going around takes a long time to recover from. My ds was like this but is back to being a happy chappy again. My older 2 had the virus and were very lethargic and not themselves for a good week after the main symptoms had gone. I hope he picks up soon. You could always take him to Drs just to rule out anything else.

I hope you feel better soon as it is very difficult and frustrating when you just don't know what they want. Look after yourself. Is there any way you could have some time for yourself. It may be all you need to chill out and be able to cope again.

sayitwithme I'm sorry to hear things aren't great. Is your ds hitting or rubbing at his ears at all? When E was unwell before xmas it took her about 7 days to get back to normal. Even when the main symptoms had gone she was still miserable. Could you make a gp appointment just to rule out any infections? Sorry I can't be any more help. Hope your getting some rest or some time away, even for a couple of hours? princess glad your feeling Ok. It won't be long till your first scan. Do you get two where you are?
bettymum are you getting bitten? Eilidh only has two bottom teeth but in the past week or so she has become really aware of them. She has started to bite me at the end of some feeds...ouch! Its unbearable! I have tried to take her off and firmly say no but she just giggles . Then I end up laughing because she is so cute. Not exactly tackling it head on am I?!
Hope everyone is well. We have had a really busy week. Something on most days. My house ended up being a mess because I was away all weekend at my in laws and then had too many plans this week. To be honest I started to feel a bit overwhelmed thinking about what had to be done. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I then start to feel guilty at eilidh living in a tip! Managed to cancel my plans yesterday and get stuck in to the housework so feel a little better.
E has been sleeping well still. Have had a couple of nights this week where she has almost slept all night...once from 7pm-6am and once till 5am. Hopefully this is progress and not just luck!
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
P.s princess, I'm loving one born, its making of broody!

harverina know what you mean about the mess and feeling overwhelmed, DH took us all out for lunch on Saturday as I was getting in a state about the housework, which was lovely - although the mess was still there when we got home again. I managed to race throgh most bits on Sunday when Alexander had his sleep.
Not sure what is going on with my nipples, I don't think A is really biting although sometimes when I latch him back on it's better - they're starting to get quite cracked and I think they're bleeding a bit (sorry TMI). You'd think it would be easy after 9 months, wouldn't you? Have started slapping on the Lansinoh, so hopefully that will help.
A's new game is now "break for the stairs", he keeps streaking off while I'm trying to read DD her bedtime stories, I leap up and grab him, cue much giggling, then off he goes again. It is quite funny I guess.
sayitwithme I think they take a while to get over things, A had a horrid cold all over Christmas and it turned him into a bad tempered thing, he is normally all smiles, he is fine again now though so hang in there!
I watched One Born last night, I only get to watch when DH is doing something else. I was in tears at every birth, made me want to have another baby. Must stop watching!

Hi all. I find it strange to hear of all the little ones crawling & pulling themselves up as George still doesn't even! He can roll onto his side & that as much movement as we get!!! His brother was the same though.

The sleep training has worked well. No more night feeds & last night he slept 7pm til 7am. I think I heard him a couple of times in the night , babbling & playing in his cot but then he went back to sleep. Most night he's either woken briefly in the middle of the night or slept through until 6am. An amazing improvement from the 2-3 wakeups & feeds per night. He's eating masses in the daytime now - can't fill him up. Must be because he's no longer getting the milk at night. He's not particularly interested in the boob anymore - has a bit in the morning & before bed & sometimes in the afternoon. He's started to drink a little formula from a straw cup which is great as he previously wouldn't take it from any bottle or beaker. It is the same style cup that ds1 uses for milk & drinks & G tries to wrestle it off him whenever he sees it, so thought I would try him with the same one.

Had my parents staying since thurs until this morning. It was lovely having them to stay & both our boys adore them. But it's also nice to get back to normal now & get the house tidy again. My dad has a tendency to scatter newspapers everywhere & always forgets to wipe his feet/take his shoes off & as we have a cream carpet it's always a bit of a state by the time they go!

Wow Zeeky thats fantastic about the sleep. Can you talk me through what you did and how long it took? E is only up once but I'm feeling tired and would love sleep to be better by the time I go back to work. Great also that george is drinking from a cup. Eilidh loves to drink water from a sippy cup. In fact eilidh would pretty much drink anything from any type of cup! She is so good at picking her cup up on her own now and taking a drink.
bettymum I know what you mean, you'd think after 9 months we wouldn't have to worry about cracked nipples etc! I had my lansinoh out this week too, for the first time in months. How long are you hoping to feed for? Eilidh still loves to feed morning and night but she isn't so interested during the day. Some days she will have huge daytime feeds, some days she has virtually nothing. Today she had very little. She had a friend over playing though so she was very distracted plus she is teething too.
We have had more progress...eilidh now waves! When anyone says bye bye and water she water too. Its so cute to see!

Haverina we used the PU/PD method from the Baby Whisperer. G has no problem self settling for naps & at bedtime but would cry in the night a few times. I fed him each time so I think he'd got into the habit of not going back to sleep until he had a tummy full of warm milk! The first two nights DH took control to break the bf'ing habit. Both nights he was up & down with him for about hr and a half at 1am & then he slept until 7am. I took over for the next 2 nights & although it was a lot quicker to get him settled in his cot he woke up a couple of times. Then we took it turns to be on duty at night. By the 6th night he slept through until 6am. Now he either sleeps until 6 or 7 or if he does wake in the night like last night it only takes a couple of mins to settle him back in his cot. The baby whispered says to stay with them until they go to sleep but as G is used to going to sleep by himself we leave the room as soon as he is happy to be put back in his cot without crying. I felt this was a much gentler method the controlled crying. So far so good!

Was kept awake from 3.15am last night by ds1. He's got a cold & started screaming in the night. He was trembling & wheezing & asked to come into bed with us which he never normally does. He proceeded to kick, wriggle & cough until dh went into spare room. Then kept me awake rest of night (until dh came in at 6 to get ready for work) by talking very loudly that he needed more medicine! Feeling rather tired today.

Thanks Zeeky. I always feed eilidh if she wakens too. I can't do controlled crying. We tried it one night at bedtime and I found it too distressing. Will maybe buy the baby whisperer book...in fact I think that there is a baby whisperer breastfeeding book in my local library so will have a look. At the moment I am using the pantley pull off method at the moment then sitting in her room till she self settles. Try to put her down awake as much as possible. Can't seem to get eilidh to self settle at nap times. She will always need a feed before her nap. If I don't feed her she does fall asleep eventually I suppose. Do you put George into his cot at set times during the day awake?
Despite all my queries eilidh slept all night last night from 7.30pm till 6.15am! She had a huge tea. Maybe I need to increase her solids. Ah I really have no idea!

Haverina it is just a case of guess work isn't it. J can self settle on my knee if I catch him at the right time during the day but he doesn't in his cot. It gives me a chance to have a cuddle I suppose.

J wakes in the night at about 4 or 5 and dh seems to be able to settle him better than I do. I think he expects milk from me. DH isn't happy but as I've been doing it for nearly 9 months I don't think it's too much to ask

Mistymoo dh was not impressed either when I told him I needed him to do the first two nights of sleep training. You'd think I'd asked him to stick needles in his eyes! He did it though & is also much better at settling G than me in the night.

Haverina I do roughly stick to a routine with G. He has breakfast at 8 and then I put him in his cot about 9 for a nap but sometimes earlier if he was up early. Then he has lunch at 12 & goes for a nap between 1 & 2. He gives me loads of sleep cues though - yawning & eye rubbing, and is usually more than happy to be put in his cot as long as he has a muslin. He had toys & a music/light show box on the side of cot which he now turns on himself, so happily plays in his cot for a bit if he's not quite ready for sleep. He still wakes in the night but doesn't cry every time - I hear babbling & rattling toys!

I have been dropping subtle hints to my DH - telling him about your lovely DH's getting up in the night to help with the sleep training! At least he won't get too much of a shock when I tell him he'll be doing it during the night

EIlidh has lots of sleep cues too but still howls if I just put her in her cot. I don't mind feeding to sleep during the day so much its at night that its an issue, although I have to say that it has got alot better since I started to use the pantley method.

Just home from toddler group. Usually go to a bf group on a Tuesday but Eilidh fell asleep so its housework instead then a food shop later.

On a different note, I have had my first proper period since Eilidh was born . Feelso tired - forgot how they make you feel!

Hope you are all well. Thanks for the advice Misty and Zeeky

harverina you can add my DH to the ones who get up in the night . He just stands at the door and says "go to sleep" in a grumpy voice but it seems to work.
Not sure how long I plan to feed for, I only do bedtimes and mornings since I'm at work in the day, I fed DD till in the morning till 14 months and dropped that feed in favour of a cup of milk, and till 16 months at nighttime when we dropped that for a cup of milk. DH helped both times, she didn't seem in the least bothered so I guess she was ready to stop. Must say if it continues being this sore I am tempted to stop at 12 months.

Thanks haverina, misty and bettymum for your messages on DS's temper. I didn't read them until today but I'm happy to report a complete change for the better in the last 24 hours or so. We have our lovely smiley happy chap back! Phew.

Zeeky - we're right there with you and G on the movement front. Still no signs of movement from DS although he does love to be held to standing position so he can bounce. I think I will nickname him Tigger! We've tried him in jumparoos and lindam doorway bouncers and he hates them so it's only when he's held.

Re sleep training, still intend to try this at some point with DS although will give it a few more days since he's been ill lately. He's been waking twice in the night recently, instead of just the once, so I'm suffering from tiredness too and like you, haverina, I'd like to get things straight for when I go back to work in April. I'll be following your work everyone...

Great to hear from you sleepywombat! So glad that Noah is finally over the reflux. Those flights sound like hell! We've decided to holiday in the uk this year as can't face the prospect of packing for 4 (yes, I inevitably end up packing for dh too!) and trying to control 2 children on a plane for a few hours. At least in the car they are strapped in!

G's sleep has been so good recently until last night. I've been up since 4.45am as I couldn't get back to sleep after he'd woken, and then just as I'd dozed off at 5.45 he started crying again & just would not settle so ended up getting up for the day. 4.45am is a little early to be starting the day though :(

Just realised this thread might get terminated in a few posts time. Let's start a new one shall we? Wait a minute...

New thread here