Dec 09 - We've found our fingers, we've found our toes, what happens next nobody knows

[Claire236]

Starting new thread before we run out of room. Now to link from the old one. Could be interesting

Sorry to hear about your knee Kings. Hope it's better soon.

ABF - DS is only doing 2 mornings a week to begin with. 9am till 11.50. I don't think I can cope with him crying. I feel like I'm betraying his trust if I leave him scared. I have an awful relationship with my parents so this is all new to me I suppose. I'm dreading it

Kings - oh no! Just what you didn't need...

Legscrossed - Imogen is bf and refuses the bottle (despite taking it quite happily once a day for the first 8 or so weeks!) - I've been trying to reintroduce it again she she also tongues and bites it and rubs it around her gums rather than sucks from it. I'm letting her play with it in her mouth for a litle while - and she will drink about 30/40 mls in that time then bf her as usual. I'm sort of hoping that she might suddenly just decide that drinking from the bottle is fine... but possibly quite wishful thinking on my part...

Sorry GS meant to say good luck with nursery tomorrow, hopefully he will just love it! My friend was more upset that her son didn't cry after she dropped him for the first time in the end so you never know...

Snitch, he'll most likely go off skipping and you'll be left looking like this

Most nurseries are really good at letting the newbies stay until the child gets settled. Did you do the 2 sessions where you stay with him for an hour?

Hi
Bex - yes, can only think Anna is having a growth spurt. DD seems to be having one but mainly through sleep. I hope the jabs go ok for you tomorrow.

Kings - welcome home. So sorry about your knee - how awful for you - yes, I hope you have lots of support.

ABF and Sparkly - Yay for rolling babies - well done!!

GS - Good luck for tomorrow with DS. Will be thinking of you.

Hi evryone.....Kings.....what a nightmare but arent you fab for even considering a holiday skiing with a baby......WOW!!!!

ds rolled again today which was exciting and is still loving his food. Am still bf for first feed of day and express a pot full to either give in a bottle or in his food. so all in all he is getting 2 bf and 3ff a day.....sometimes only 2ff. am not worried about early weaning as dd was weaned at 4 months cos at the time that was what was recommended!!!! ds is 21lbs ao you can see why he may need a bit more than milk. started on veg and fruit and am adding a little bit of chicken and tiny bit of potato but to be honest ds devours anything.

oh and on the drinking water front....we have had a breakthrough!!! ds will now drink it happily from his BROTHER MAX 4 in 1 beaker with soft spout. it cost £7 from Jojo Maman Bebe shop but is well worth it and other places do it cheaper online(but have postage on top). you can have handles or no handles then there is a special bit for when they have an open top cup too!!!!

brother max cup

hope that works!!!

BROTHER MAX CUP

kings - poor you. What a crap holiday you must have had.

GS - good luck with nursery

I realized today I've got 7 more weeks before I go back to week. Not long. Starting ds1 going to breakfast club at school a few days a week from next week so he gets used to it. Will need to speak to nursery to arrange a few introductory sessions for ds2 before he starts going full time.

Getting ds2 weighed again on Weds. Thinking he's going to have gained quite a bit as he's loving eating & is having more milk as well bizarrely.

We only got 1 hour long taster session and that was weeks ago now.

He was clingy to begin with but then got into it and wanted to play with "his friends". Even went off hand in hand with his keyworker at one point - but he always had an eye on me to make sure I was close.

Then when we went to pick up his uniform, he clung to my leg and refused to talk to anyone. Not even the other children who were trying to talk to him!

Feeling grotty because todays been awful too. He's been difficult. Catherine's been clingy and tearful probably because of teeth and I've been snappy I so wanted my last day with a proper pre-schooler to be nice. DH has had to take over bedtime cause I'm just at the end of my patience.

Hopefully, he'll do what I did when I started Nursery and not even look up from what he's doing as I announce I'm leaving. My Mum loves telling me that story. I just can't see it happening though.

Any tips? DH has been telling him that Mummy's going to go shopping while he's at school but I don't think he's grasped what that means yet. I think we should wait and spring me leaving when he's settled and playing. There's a little shop next door that I can tell him I'm popping to - he'll know where I am and hopefully, once he gets engrossed in playing, he won't realise how long I'm gone. I'm worried that if we tell him in advance that he's being left there alone, he'll panic before we even get there and take longer to settle cause he's worried. If he thinks it's just another toddler group type thing, he'll be more likely to be straight in there.

When ds1 first started nursery he was about 15 months & I found the softly softly approach made him worse. Biting the bullet & just dropping him off saying goodbye as quickly as possible worked best. He cried but nursery phoned me about an hour later to say he was fine & had stopped crying about 5 mins after I left. I cried when I left him then cried some more when they phoned to say he was ok. Leaving your babies is so hard

He's there and happy!

Took him in and although he was shy to begin with, he warmed quite quickly (I think the train track laid out to play with helped ) then when they went to play outside, he ran off too.

I stayed inside to talk to the Manager while he played and after he while he came in and said "come outside and see Mummy". He was playing with some jelly they'd out out to play with. I asked him if it was OK if I went to feed baby Catherine while he played (mundane enough to be comfortable, boring enough that he wouldn't want to join in) and he said yes. I went and told the manager I was going, said goodbye to him and left - not a tear from anyone

So relieved!

GS- Brilliant! Well done for being so brave! I bet he's having a great time.

I've now picked him up and it seems he's had a great time. Preschool manager said he was fine without me. He did say "I couldn't find you Mummy" once or twice when I got there but that now seems to have changed to "I didn't miss you Mummy" - can't decide if that's better or worse!!

He's got a new book bag and has made a cake from crushed up biscuits and melted chocolate.

I asked him if he'd like to go again and he said "That would be exciting" which I guess is a yes

First swimming lesson without me in the pool tomorrow then back to pre-school on Thursday. It's a busy week

Right, I'm off to do playdoh with my independent boy!!

GS - sooooo glad it all went well for you and it sounds like he really enjoyed it which even better!

Lee - hope Andrew sleeps well tonight and wakes up a happier little one for you tomorrow.

I was just feeling like we'd settled into a bit of a good sleeping routine here - 7 pm to 7 am with two feeds in the night that were relatively quick. However last night was a nightmare so I'm hoping tonight will be better again. I think these babies just like to keep us on our toes... counting down the weeks until weaning and the thought this might help with the sleeping. 6 weeks to go.

Lee- I hope your DS feels much better in the morning.

GS - Really glad he had a good time!

DH got sent home last night with an upset tummy and feeling sick... DD wasn't very well again in the night and I woke up with tummy ache and an upset tummy too - so it's been a fun house here today! Took DD to the doctors because she is really off her milk too today. I kept trying her at the breast and she didn't want any... I became very sore and had to express before I burst!! Doctor was lovely and checked her over. We are all basically suffering from the same bug. Her ears and chest are clear... so it's just gently gently for a couple of days. DD took some milk again before bed tonight - I think I will go dreamfeed her again when I got to bed shortly, need to rest as much as possible - haven't had a tummy bug in ages... forgotten little fun it is running to the loo every 5 minutes!

Klerka - how are you all feeling this morning? Hope you are all starting to feel better.

Please can someone else just reassure me I'm not the only one getting up to feed at least twice in the night (between 7 pm and 7 am) still... then I'll be fine with it again for a bit!!!

4 times last night!!

We were only getting up once for ages, then twice for last last couple of weeks but 4 times was awful!

Oh no - 3 times for us last night for feeds and once just for fun (I sent in dh!). We also had been jetting into twice a night for a while, lulling me into a false sense of security.

I'm really focusing on trying to get more milk down her during the day now which does seem to work when I manage it. I've been trying to push to 4 hours between feeds with a 3.5 hour minimum gap at least as this then seems to make her feed more and in turn be more settled at night. It did help last week where I could more or less guarantee two feeds in the night, but then I stopped worrying about it and it has got worse again so going to try harder today! It would be soooo much easier if she would just take one feed from a bottle, just one...

I also always just leave her to wake herself for night feeds, but wonder if I should wake her at 10.30 (if she sleeps that long in the first place!) and turn on all the lights do one side, change nappy, dim lights then do the other side and see if that will help at all, but very undecided really on that...

Thank you though GS - I shall continue to feel 'normal' then....

Much better today thank you. My cramps have subsided, just feel a bit weak from lack of food! DD seems to be back to normal, fully back on the breast and wet nappies etc.

I advised a friend Monday night whom we were supposed to be having long arranged cinema/lunch date today with the DC's and DH's that we were poorly and it might not happen - and she responded this morning that they all have it too. We haven't seen them for a couple of weeks so it wasn't us passing it around. Just want to let you all know that a bug is definitely making the rounds and to be aware.

Hendo - DD wakes me twice in the night like clockwork around 1.30 and 5am (from bedtime at 7.7.30pm) and then wakes for the day without fail at 7am latest. Prior to this bug I was really concentrating on upping her intake as much as possible during the day too. I also wondered about waking her at 10pm as you say when I go to bed and give her a proper full feed... hmmm, maybe we should try and see how it goes?

Haven't been around for ages so a lot of catching up to do!

So sorry to hear about your knee Kings, as if you didn't already have enough to deal with.

Pleased that your ds settled to pre-school GS, hoping it continues to go well for you.

My ds's sleeping continues to be rubbish, in fact it's etting really hard to get him to go down at all, he just wants to be attached to my nipple permanently. His longest sleep yesterday was two hours in the evening then he was pretty much attched all night, every time I woke up and saw that he was asleep and not latched on I tried to put him back in his moses basket but each time he woke up. It would be more bearable if dd hadn't cottoned on to ds beeing in my bed pretty permanently and now she wants to be in too. Felt very this am at nursery drop off when I overheard another mummy saying that her twins, just a few weeks older than ds, sleep for 13 hours solid every night .

hello everyone, just popping in to say to Ladidadi that my little one is the same as yours! he's always been diddicult to put down, a routine is impossible and the only way i can get him to sleep is boob (he nods off soundly then wakes as soon as i put him down and screams) or in the pram with a walk round the block.

he's been attached pretty much all night too, not sure if he's having a growth spurt or teething coz it is worse at the moment but has always been pretty much like this. are we doing something wrong??

Catherine's definitely teething. Lots of dribble and chewing on anything she can get hold of! A friend put her finger in Catherine's hand while we were at Toddler Group this morning and she immediately tried to chew it!!

ds2 goes to bed after his 9pm bottle then has a dreamfeed at about 11pm. He had been sleeping until 8am but has been a bit erratic since he was poorly. At the minute it's anywhere from 5.30-8.00.

Klerka - there's been lots of upset stomachs over here. ds2 was tested when he was poorly & he had rotavirus which there's apparently been an outbreak of recently. Glad you're feeling better.

I remember when ds2 was tiny & was awake every night from about 6pm until 2am screaming full pelt for at least 2 hours & I felt so crap that everyone elses newborns were so much easier to look after & convinced I must be a totally crap mum. It now seems to have evened out & he's pretty much on a par with friends babies of a similar age. People on here kept telling me it would get better & it has. I'm sure that will be the case for those who are struggling with sleep now.

mwncigirl - I don't think anyone is doing anything wrong if you ask me. If you count doing what dd wants when she wants as a flexible routine then we have one!!! I always think I must be doing something wrong as she doesn't really ever do the same thing two days in a row, but the more I speak to people the more common I find this actually is.

I bought 'The Baby Sleep System' book by Wendy Dean when dd wouldn't settle at night and it did really help. Although she wakes up for feeds (sometimes v frequently!), she generally does just feed then go back to sleep now and went through a phase of not wanting to sleep anywhere other than her cotbed at all. The thing I liked about the book was it had a whole choice of techniques to choose from - we did PUPDCD (pick up put down cry down) and dh and I both stuck to it taking it in turns for 20/30 minutes.

The screaming from her was awful for the first few days and it took about an hour to an hour and half to settle her each time. I kept thinking there must actually be something wrong, but on the positive side on the third night we saw a massive improvement and she settled in less than half an hour. Now she nearly always settles very quickly for both naps and bedtime and we still use the technique if she ever wakes in the night for a reason other than hunger and we can usually settle her back to sleep in about 5 minutes.

Having said that a friend who has an 8 month old baby has tried everything and her dd still won't sleep unless being held or in their bed so no idea if it would help...