Issy's graduates (Bella, Blue, Head, Jumping, Irish, Wasabi, Girl, Sunny) here to give advice and swap tips

[bluesatinsash]

Ta da!

Hope this shakes a few of us out of where we're languishing these days .

Let this be the one-stop shop into everything that is the crazy, wonderful, sleep and sanity deprived world of bringing up baby

Hope you had a decent night's kip Bella and that your head isn't hurting too much today

Morning,

Feeling very teary and this morning as Benjamin's had a very hungry night.

He was fed his usual 2.5-3 hourly routine yesterday and had his bedtime feed at 6.45pm which lasted a good half hour with one resettle at 8pm (he always zonks out with his bedtime feed then comes to wanting part two).

He was then up at 9.45pm/10/30pm/midnight then I forgot as soo tired cant't remember but at leaset another twice until 3am.

He is nearly 20 weeks old andsurely should not be needing all this milk during the night????. He is more distracted during the day now especially when his big brother is gadding about but still feeds for at least 10 solid minutes at day feeds.

I'm really struggling with this as its not a one off. I absoluately do not mind getting up during the night but five times at nearly 5 months seems excessive..

I start to doubt my milk content and wonder if its of poor quality and then start to wobble and think about buying formula.

DS1 was on a bottle at 12 weeks (he resufed to feed off me after being wrongly diagnosed with reflux and having horrible gaviscon syringed in his mohth for 4 weeks but that's another story) and slept through the night at 16.

I think I may start a thread but where to post as is it a sleeping issue or a feeding one ?

There is no way I can just settle him durin ght enight as he sleeps next door to his brother and would wake him up with his crying. But is that the problem, he already associates settling during the night with a feed and is now waking for quick cuddle rather than calories.

The thought that is getting me through is its not long until he is 6 months, getting solids and if he is still waking copius amounts during the night then I know its not hunger and can resettled him without boob. I would never do controlled crying, never did it with DS1 just rocking and singing.

Better go, just expressed and need to decant into bottle. (Tha'ts our other project trying to get Ben to take a bottle of EBM. like your jumping I'm going back to work on 5th July - only for 2 days until Sept) and he needs to take a bottle by then...

ho hum

hi blue lovely. Have to answer you before hopping in the shower.
POor you.
I know exactly how you feel. Our DSs seem to have similar feeding/sleeping patterns. I wracked my brain and have to say the only thing that has helped has been spacing out the feedings. It actually happened by mistake as one day last week I had lost track of the time and DS started crying in his pram. I started speed walking which made the ride very bumpy and after a few minutes he totally stopped and then when he got home he was fine for another half hour. Ever since then apart from the one day when i posted I had been up a million times I have not fed him before about 3 hrs - 320 ish. If he has seemed hungry i have distracted him and he has very quickly forgotten about it. This has resulted in much much much better feeds. Also I feed away from any noise and stimulation and this also helps. Last night he woke at 12:30 and then 3:10 ish he stirred after and made a couple of meep meep noises but fell asleep again pretty much instantly. He takes both boobs now and I am sure that is helping him have longer stretches at night.

Having read every internet page on this as I wanted to make sure there was nothing I was doing wrong or could change there is also lots written about a big 4-5 month sleep regression. It's developmental apparently. There's loads about this on the sleep archives.

HTH.

All fine here although my neck and shoulders and back are freezing up and G is really finding it tricky to get to sleep for his morning nap which is getting quite tiring. his eyes are closed and his eyebrows go all ^ which is sweet but he struggles to get to sleep from that point and screams if I put him down. It has become a fine art choosing the right moment and the novelty is wearing off I have to say! Mind you he is currently squealing with delight under the mobile so that's nice.

Hope you get to nap today. Could you get DP to take him out for a long walk with Isaac? xx

Must go and shower and get dressed. Benjamin will probably sleep for ages tonight. you'll see xx

ps obviously if he couldn't be distracted with a toy or a jiggle about i would feed - but that only happened once on the first day about an hour before his bath. He basically ucked me dry so think it might have worked to up my supply a bit too. Obviously not enough to take him through the whole night but...

Hi Bella and you know you may be onto something with the day time feeds! He used to feed for a good 34-40mins but now down to 10 mins, wonder if he is becoming a snacker and making up for lost calories during the night.

Baby Whisperer has whole chapter on 4/4 i.e. four hourly at four months which Isaac was but he was on bottle then so I knew no way would BF baby be able to go so long... But Ben is nearly 5 months and do think less feeds during day would make him take more - both boobs hopefully - and then tank him up for night time..

he did last form 6.45am to 10.20am this morning but more because DH was trying (and failing) to give him expressed BF in bottle before I stepped in.

He is also a little phlemy today (brought some up with his milk) so wondering if that's contributing..

Lovely image of George cooing away under his mobile . Sorry morning nap is proving tricky. Are you putting him down still awake or rocking/singing him to la la land? I've just put Ben down for his second nap and rockes and sang him to sleep. He has never been able to put himself over to date. In fact when DS1 was still napping - and that was up until last November!) I was still rocking and singing him to sleep - tricky with a huge pg bump and almost 2 stoner .

Did hav e along lie this morning, DH is fantastic and lets me lie in both Sat and Sun - between 7am and 10am feeds.

Off to have shower then off to in-laws for afternoon of sunday papers and getting spoiled - lovely .

Thanks again Bella - mwah!

Bella - wandered over to 'sleep' section and found reassuring thread here

One of the posters copied a section from kellymom.com (I love that site!) here which has reassured me no end.

Have spaced Ben's feeds out today and I managed an afternoon nap at in-laws so feeling better. Ben also took good big feed at bedtime and he actually needed sung to sleep as didn't drop off in an oxytocin-induced breast milk slumber.

We'll see how it goes tonight x

Thanks - will have a look now.

George has done what I would call a Gina day - naps and feeds wise - well nearly - so will be interesting to see if that translates over to a good night. fingers crossed for both of us

My back is really hurting now so gave up on my mission to perfect a shush pat! this morning I had him in the sling under the extractor fan and he drifted of in under a minute and this avo I experimented and put him in front of the washimg machine. He was totally transfixed and again fell asleep without so much as a whimper. Makes me feel bad about my normal cack handed back breaking attempts when i see how peacefully he can enter sleepville. Makes me tempted to give the whole exercise a break for the time being, especially if he is then getting better sleeps as a result...

Hello ladies

Have had a few days. Ffion has become very hard at nights- so similar to you Blue- except I had thought we were through the worst as had a few better nights and now she's back to not settling until 10.30, then waking at 1.30, then feeding every 1.5-2 hours until 6.30 when we're all up. Am beyond exhausted, plus falling well behind on housework (and my consultancy work, which I try to do in eves). Yet I know this is normal for a b'fed 5 month old who is very distractable in the day and makes up for it by guzzling lots at night. But it's so hard as not getting any rest- days are nonstop especially as DS needs lots of TLC at the mo. F is only taking 2 decent length feeds between 6.30am and 6.30pm, with a couple of short nibbles inbetween. Argh! But impossible to find a quiet place in this house... Also she wants to sit upright all the time, but can't yet do it herself, so gets annoyed! Ended up the past few days with her in the sling most of the time she was awake so I could still cook/tidy/play with kids outside. Bella am with you on the sore back as a consequence!

In desperation this evening I gave her a bottle of formula at 8pm, which she didn't take much of (3oz) as she'd had a good feed from me at 6.30pm, but it did knock her out so she was asleep at 9pm. But know it won't solve the night wakenings but have to work a bit and needed her to sleep. She's teething on top and will not take any calpol etc. by syringe or on a spoon- it all comes back out (have same prob with gripe water Head!)- so making do with chewing on cold carrots and have just bought some dentinox to rub on her gums.

Sometimes I feel awfully guilty that I've tried to juggle too much and am failing at all of it. I chose to b'feed but also chose (sort of) to return to work 2 mornings a week from 3.5 months old - Ffion barely took milk while I was at work and would make up for it that eve, and I really believe it was this that initially switched her into increased night feeds. Now I am so exhausted by night feeding I find it hard to keep up with everything in the day, keep my energy for DS & DD1, let alone write anything sensible for work. OK grumble over- sorry! Worst of all I know that I can't really expect better nights until she's taking plenty of solids, and she's still not really even interested in them yet! DH thinks I should think about switching to bottle feeding, just to improve nights...but don't really want to go down that route having got this far

Off to tackle washing up now.

Sorry a very me me me post. Hope you have had a lovely weekend xxxxxx

Morning everyone... oh my, we're all going through a hellish time right now aren't we? I was going to post last night but Francesca was up and down all evening. I managed to get her to sleep at 7pm, and was just putting her in her cot when Luca ran in pretending to be a lion and roared really loudly, which woke her up again. It took me another hour to settle her again, but she then woke up at 9pm and screamed until 9.30, I managed to get her to sleep again but she woke up again at 10pm so I gave up and fed her again. Then she was up at 1.30 but irritatingly enough she cried but refused to feed. I ended up giving her some calpol as aswell as teething, she's got a cold now (as have Luca and me )

I did manage to get her back to sleep by about 2.15 but she was awake again at 4am so I fed her again and after some more crying and thrashing about she fell asleep at about 5.30am in our bed. She's still asleep now (typical!) but I had to get up at 7 to look after Luca, so we're sitting here on the sofa in our pyjamas eating toast and nutella and feeling sorry for ourselves. Luca just said to me between sobs "I can't taste my chocolate jam mummy". I'm predicting a very quiet non day today. Lots of cbeebies and not much else!

bella that link you posted from Kellymom was very interesting. I know that Francesca doesn't get proper feeds during the day. I've worried that was the problem for a while. As soon as I sit down Luca is all over me, clambering all over the sofa and me, and poking Francesca. I've tried everything, shouting, bribery, more Cbeebies, distraction. Nothing works. I think it's a jealousy thing.

When I had Luca I was a bit pfb about breastfeeding and wrote down the times he fed and for how long, and at this stage he was doing 45 mins each side 6 times a day. He was a slow feeder, but even allowing for that, Francesca gets nowhere near that much boob time. Especially more now we're potty training, as of course as soon as I sit down to feed Francesca Luca wants to use the potty. I've taken to leaving him with no trousers and pants on if we're near one of Francesca's feeds so he can just sit himself on the potty!

The other thing that really struck a chord with me was the bit about setting down prolactin receptors. I really cocked up bfing Luca, I didn't quite understand it at first and thought I was leaving him on too long, so I'll pull him off (literally) after 20 mins and swap sides until a bfc put me right on that and I left him on until he came off on his own. That wasn't until he was about 6 weeks old, and I struggled for the rest of the time to keep my milk supply up. I pumped three times a day for 8 months, took fenugreek and ate tons of oats, but I still struggled. Hopefully this time I've got myself off to a good start. Anyway that's not really relevant to our current problems, just and aside really...

The more I read about the four month sleep regression the more it makes sense. Coupled with the fact that Francesca is teething and has a cold I'm not surprised she's feeding 3 times a night. Doesn't make it any easier though. I caught dh's eye at 5am this morning as he gave me a desperate look while Francesca writhed and yelled. We're both knackered. Roll on July when we can get weaning. I'm going to be shovelling mashed potato and cheese down her throat the second she can manage it

I hope everyone's feeling a little better this morning. Somehow knowing everyone else is going through the same thing makes it a bit easier to bear...

I'm off to dose up on paracetamol. xx

Oh dear - there is nothing like sleep deprivation to make everything seem so difficult and awful. i actually had a good night last night - two big big feeds at 1:30 and 4:40 but they were my only wake ups so in fact that is by far my best night since G was born! Ironically DP said that he felt that he had hardly slept. This was also one of the first nights that we spent the whole night in the same bed so I expect that's why. Normally I start in our bed but end up in G's room. He has been working so so hard recently that I have been trying extra hard to make sure he does sleep which means that I could never really be bothered to try to settle G without a feed if he started to make noises...

Anyway both feeds were an hour later than they were on Saturday night so I am hopeing they will be an hour later today and tomorrow til it's only 1 feed then no feeds. yeah RIGHT that will bring me right up to teething and sleep regression territory too FUN. He was 15 weeks yesterday so will hopefully get to savour one week of normal well behaved sleeping baby.

It is so nice to hear that others go through the same thing - even though not nice for you to be going through it. I have a very nice group of ante natal group mums I have coffee with and two have babies sleeping through. The others sort of stay shtum but imply that they are barely getting up. I am not at all competitive about these things but had started to wonder if little G was a bit backward developmentally when it came to sleep. I think that people don't like to fess up because they think that it will reflect badly on them or something, which is silly really.

G currently napping. Got him off in the sling slow dancing to calamity jane songs. He likes Doris Day!
Waited til he was properly asleep then put him in the cot. I think i will keep focussing on night sleeps then worry about naps again later. It was taking up way too much of my day trying to get him down 'properly' which on no sleep does get tedious.

Jumping I really hope that you can get some help. It must be very difficult indeed trying to juggle all that. Serious hats off to you for even getting this far. I don't know anyone else with 3 who isn't totally on formula by now.

head and to DS not being able to taste his chocolate jam. Hope you have a nice PJ day today.\blue how did you get on last night? Any improvements? hope so. Also, don't your sons look so like you!Thanks for the links. I love the kellymom website.

wis wasabi would find us as i know she is going through the same

irish hope you had a nice weekend.

We are off to meet daddy for lunch near his office today. Haven't been into the centre of town since - well before christmas actually. EEK!

oops the tiny love mobile is losing its appeal

ttfn

xxxxx

oops there's the littly - more later

Evening all and group hug all round .

Glad my kellymon link has struck a chord and reassured, I was reading it down the phone to my Mum last night in an 'eureka' way!

Bella - we had similar wake ups last night much better than night before. Ben was up at 1am and 4.30am then that was him until 7am!!!

So today I have s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d his feeds out to almost 4-hourly: 7.15am/11am/2.30pm and - get this - 6.45pm!!

He guzzled 2.30pm feed, took him upstairs to nursery and he fed for 35 mins. DS1 was happy playing downstairs..

6.45pm feed lasted 50 minutes and he gave the biggest belch ever then had some off the other boob. Still awake after all that so was sung to sleep.

Let's see how the night pans out...

Bella - approach any ante-natal group with caution in terms of sleeping!! Some people class 'through the night' as a 5 hour stretch (I can only dream of even that just now...) Glad George had a better nap today and whatever it takes to get them off! I sing Sound of Music songs and even one from Kids from Fame!

Jumping - you must be exhausted with three DC and work and breastfeeding. I can relate to not wanting to 'give up' and buy formula for probably the same reasons: easiness/stubbornness and last baby syndrome. Also Ben is refusing to take one which doesn't help! How did our ancestors do all this bf with their hordes of children and working out picking berries - arrrgh . I really don't know what to suggest other than you try and get some rest..

Head - sorry you and Luca have the cold and Francesca been in pain. I bought Ben a teething ring today not cos there is any sign at the mo but he is chundering down on his books/toys/anything he can.

I crossed paths with wasabi the other week on a feeding thread and she was having similar problems so hope she find her way over here.

On a plus note its May 2010 and May 2009 was one of the worst months of my life as I thought I was going to mc every single day. I look back and shudder at the memory of that month, the 5 scans I had during it, not daring to hope baby was still alive. Looking back like this does re-boot me to remember how bloody lucky I am to have Benjamin, sleep deprivation and it may be.

Off to tackle ironing, its never ending is it?!

love to all x

Hahaha, Blue you are so right... Bella ante natal group talk of sleeping through is like teenagers talk of sex... everyone's lying Just to wind people up sometimes I pretend Francesca's sleeping through 12 hours, but one look at the bags under my eyes and the red rings and everyone knows I'm talking rubbish

Last nights feeding was: 10.15pm (not so much of a dream feed, she woke up) 1.15am, 4.15am then slept like a baby (oh the irony) until 9am

I have no idea what she's doing, but I have decided to not stretch out feeds at the moment, mostly because she's coming down with the cold, and partly because she's teething. I did try today and after her 9am feed, she did 1pm and 3pm and then she was really unhappy all afternoon until her bedtime feed at 7pm. Luca managed to wake her up again just as I'd got her to sleep so she screamed while I read him his bedtime story, and then I tried in vain to settle her, and gave up, brought her down, where she sat in her nest grinning at dh like a cheshire cat and generally being very smug that she'd won!

Of course she started screaming again as soon as I'd put our dinner on the plate, so I put mine in the oven and fed her again and she went right off. I think for me it just feels right to have her settled more quickly.
I think a lot of her problems stem from the ffact that she's very windy too, and she's really uncomfortable. I've been giving her lots of those ashtons powders and they seem to help. Of course, in a pain in the arse kind of way, there's not going to be one problem and therefore one solution, but a whole myriad, so I'm trying everything until I get her settled

sorry, I was going to do some personals but Francesca has woken up 3 times already. I'm going to say sod the routine and have her downstairs with me for a cuddle!!!

Ladies, you have no idea how much better you've made me feel- we all seem to be going through the same and there's great solidarity in that (especially as so many I talk to in RL seem to think there's something wrong with the way Ffion sleeps, or not).

Managed a better night last night (and no formula either)- fed at 7.30pm for an hour, slept through until 2.30am then fed, then slept until 5.15am, fed, then all up at 7am- she just fed at 9am and now I'm at work until 2pm (she'll have EBM at around 1pm probably). Don't know why last night was better but just relieved it was!! Also I made myself not turn the computer on to work etc. and just tackled laundry, washing up and sweeping then went to bed at 11pm which is actually quite early for me. Was lovely to get chores done earlier in the evening too.

I think right now I'm going to prioritise my rest and domestic tasks in the eves and try not to work then...and hope DH can occupy older ones in the morns at weekend while F has her longer nap so I can do some work then, and at the moment MIL is minding kids while I'm in work... Just can't do everything in the already short evenings.

Blue, head, and Bella hope you have had settled nights last night- sorry not writing more personals but work beckons ...have been roped in to mark MSc dissertations in a subject I know very little about hmmm...

Much love to all
Irish how's the rib flare? xxxx

Jumping - so pleased your night was better - thank you Ffion! - and you are trying to re-prioritise some you time ahead of work - hard I know... As for marking the MSc - oh my brain is hurting just thinking about that .

Head - had to at your sitting down for dinner comment. We try and have dinner as a family with Ben sitting in his bouncy chair at my feet but early on I saw every night as a 'bonus' if we all actually ate together as opposed ot one of us rocking him/in sling whilst dinner got cold rather than being anxious and annoyed if he started the minute we picked up our forks - just trying not to sweat the small stuff - like a hot meal . I supplement my dinner with choclate later on in the evening anyway so in a way he is like my one stop weight watchers.

Bella - how did your trip to your DH's work go? I hope George was suitably coo'ed over .

Irish - have you kicked your cold into touch?

So last night... to recap Ben fed for 50 mins at 6.45pm bedtime and that was him until...

...10bloodypm Anyway fed him then, he stirred at midnight and I was up, out of bed, standing at his door dressing gown on like some sort of caped lactation superhero but he settled himself back until 1.30am then quick feed at 4am. Man this boy loves his milk!!

Managed 4-hourly today almost, gave him a sneaky feed at bfeeding support group as he was grouchy and had woken early from nap but other than that is was 7.15am/11am/12pm (sneaky)/2pm/6.45pm (both boobs).

He's asleep now and unlike last night I have no ironing so bring on the chocolate and last night's Glee

Gah! Another evening, another ruined meal. Actually it was only salad so at least it couldn't go cold, but Francesca has been screaming all evening. It's definitely the cold that's making her miserable. She's fed every 2 hours pretty much all day, and had three naps, which is very unlike her.

Last night she did 10.15pm, 1.15am and 4.15am again, I think that'll be her new pattern for a bit (until it changes again!)

Better dash.... there she goes again. At least she's usually so exhausted from her evening's screaming that she sleeps better at night!

Hi everyone

I love your posts. You all write so well. As a mark of respect I am at least going to spell check this post

well last night was a disaster for me too!! what are we like!
I did feel like I got the day wrong though. I put G down too early for the night - feeds were far apart but too long.

Today I have kept him to my breast for so long he might develop a boob aversion. At least he has had good feeds and good -ish naps though so tonight will be as good as it could be. We have gone passed the 10:30 mark which is the normal tell tale sign so fingers crossed.

I really struggle with the lunch time nap I have to say. I know that G needs a long one because he always wakes up tired but it is really hard to keep him asleep.

I started that post last night.

Night was ok - 7-1:15
til 4:15
but then from 5 he slept very very lightly til 7 when i fed him again.
Yawn.
Don't think we will ever do better than that and meanwhile I have to pack up and move house (haven't found one to move into but we rent and we're being evicted and I have to try to find a new job. Feeling a bit stressed...

God That was a bit lets just end it all now. sorry! will write back properly later. Just got up on the wrong side of the bed i think

How Funny Head and Blue i just noticed that or babes our connected across the astral planes! Exactly the same wake ups!

Right
Feel much better for a shower some toast and a coffee! Oh and DS going down for his morning nap with very little fuss. Phew.

The lunchtime nap is fine if he actually sleeps on me. Probably a good idea for a rest when I don't have other things to do so I may just continue with that when I can stay in.

I may try a proper dream feed tonight. But then that's it. It's actually quite a nice feeling to know I have done what I can my end. If he needs to feed like that then he just does. Sleeping through the night is our goal not theirs and once I stuff food down his -face-- wean him I'm sure things will improve. Not sure why I said that so confidently since I really don't want to ever have to do any sleep training. Before I had a baby I was firmly in the just let them cry camp. But now I have one I have swung quite far the other way. At least while they're small. I just know I couldn't handle it. So I will obviously just have to suck it up and go with whatever he throws me

blue lol at the caped lactation superhero and head so true about teenagers and sex - perfect analogy!

I have been putting DS down on his tummy for naps as he sleeps so much better like that and doesn't jolt himself up. He is now doing some awesome yoga poses. He is stronger than me!

Hope everyone had good nights last night x x x

Jumping so pleased you are feeling better and more like you can cope again. You have got so much on your plate you are entitled to have some wobbles.

ok got to go and do some job - much less ambitious than yours- ironing??!!! what's that?

ps blue i am excited about the new episode of Glee. Love it.

Glad you're feeling better Bella. Sorry to hear you've got to move out, what a pain! I hope it all goes smoothly. I had to move house three times when I was pg with Francesca and I never want to move house again!

Last night wasn't too bad as it goes. I think that's going to be the pattern for a while, a couple of horrendous nights and a couple of ok nights. My sister always used to say you never get more than two bad nights in a row, and I think she's probably right. After being up and wailing all evening, Francesca crashed at 9.30pm, I gave her a dream feed at 10.30pm and then she woke up at 2.15am. After a quick nose clear (which she hates) and a feed she went back down really easily and slept until 6am, quick feed and then back to sleep until 8.30am. The best bit about last night (or this morning really) is that Luca didn't wake up until 8.30 either!!!! I nearly fell off the bed when I checked my watch this morning!

Dh has gone to Germany to see Fulham in the Europa league, he left at 5.30 this morning and I think that's why Luca slept so late, no daddy crashing around in the bathroom to wake him. We have many arguements lively discussions about what wakes Luca up and I'm sure it's his morning ablutions that are the culprit. We'll see if the same happens tomorrow morning, as we'll have no dh again. If so I'm going to make him have a shower at work in the mornings!

Have a good day everyone xx

hello ladies,

Just a quick post before I leave work for the evening

Bella I hope everything works out for you wrt the house and job. I feel so sorry for you all with your tales of no sleep and then I realise that it'll be me in another few months.

Jumping am in awe of you and your working life especially with 3 LOs and BFing one of them.

Head love the idea of making your DH shower in work - and I hope you get a few good nights now. [mile]

Blue I presume you have Sky + (or some such recording TV thingy) - not sure how we live without it. I know it'll come in handy when we are settling into life with a babog.

I'm grand - have a slightly lingering cough but nothing too serious left to make me ill. Am heading to my friend's tonight, her BF is cooking me a roast dinner (after I had lasagne for lunch - I am starving today) and then off to Seville on Saturday with 7 "ladies" (friends not my sisters this time) for a mad weekend. I don't need alcohol to be mad you see which is a blessing these days.

So looking forward to it - I really hope the blimming ash behaves itself (until I get there at least)

Oh dear i think i scared everyone off with my lunatic ranting.

Feeling so much better now. What a difference a bit of sunshine makes.

irish glad to hear you're feeling better and brilliant that you are packing in the holidays now. I could do with a holiday like that myself! Fingers crossed the ash doesn't get in the way.

I have finally once and for all chilled the f out about everything and everything's fine. Seem to be in a pattern of long stretch at the start then 1 ish feed, 4 ish feed, 5:30 ish in bed with me til wake up 6:30 - 7 ish

I definitely find it easier now that there is a bit of a pattern.
DestP is whisking me off to a hotel in town for the night as a treat and I think he has booked me in for a massage too. I think he thinks it's all going to be very romantic - forgetting that he will be woken up all night by G! never mind. It will still be very romantic and exciting for me! Times like this I wish I had pursued with bottles of EBF because I would quite like to get shitfaced have a couple but will be sensible so has not to get the lo to drunk in the early hours.

irish i watch everything on iplayer / 4od on my computer. in fact that's what i loved about the early days. I couldn't move anywhere because the feeds took so long so I caught up on loads of telly! Oh and I am with you on the not needing loads of booze to be mad. As you may have noticed just from my postings

blue you are so right to remember this time last year. And blimey, you had a particularly terrifying time. It was the longest slowest time ever. Particularly with all the barfing. Does make me give G a big squeeze. We're very lucky and while I'm not working - getting up a bit in the night isn't exactly a big deal. In fact I know I will miss this kind of getting up in the night once the bfing is over...

predictably enough when i am relaxed so is the baby so long may this last.

I hope you are getting some rest and head I hope the family cold has cleared up. I do also have to remind myself that i don't have a toddler to keep occupied at the same time - which is even more work. Gosh that makes me feel tired just thinking about it!

Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine and thanks again for putting up with my ranting and raving -

Room for a small one? Hello all. At last I've found the new thread! It took a bit of doing, but that's probably more a reflection of my addled, sleep deprived brain than any actual opacity on MN. Opacity??? Where did that word come from, and what does it even mean???
So I've read through the whole thread, and I guess it can best be summed up as "we're all really happy but bloody nackered". Well, me too. Tubba is only 3 weeks 3 days old, so I have no claim to feeling as tired as you lot tiredness being cumulative and all. But today I feel particularly delirious with exhaustion - not sure why. Maybe coz I was up till midnight reading Grazia? So much to catch up on but it would mean me typing too epic a post, so in the meantime can I just ask all you c-sectioners (with apologies for taking the thread in a backwards direction from night feeding) - am I being stupid for freaking out whenever I get a bleed? I mean, it's only been 3 weeks 3 days, right? I basically stopped bleeding for ages but have started again - not consistently, just the odd whoosh, usually when I do something stupid like sleep on my tummy or lift something heavy. I am being an idiot, doing too much when I should be doing nothing. But it's hard to do nothing when you have a 4 year old. Anyway, vv glad to have found you all and hope you get a good night's sleep tonight (ha ha - right) - am right there with Blue in remembering the mc fears of last year (not May in my case but July and August) - it sure as heck keeps things in perspective when your boobs are sore and your body's aching and your eyes are itchier than chicken pox

Sunny you found us . I bled for 4 weeks after 1st section and @ 2 weeks after second. Haven't had any bleeding since then and AF has still to return!!

Bellathechilled - at your night away and massage - have a wonderful time .

Irish enjoy Seville - another from me!

Head - hope your Dh isn't too despondent about footie. Poor Fulham..

Wil post properly tomorrow but its Friday night and don't want to be on here when I should be nursing my one glass of red on couch with DH watching Grey's Anatomy - man its so sex, drugs and rock and roll in our house

until tomorrow x

A quickie here too

Sunny so glad you found us! RE bleeding, I bled for 4 or so weeks after each of my 3 sections, but after this time I was still bleeding occasionally (and red occassionally) at 5 weeks and was still under midwife care due to blood pressure issues and she insisted on a swab (ick) and it came back showing an infection- a weeks antibiotics and the bleeding stopped, so it may be worth getting checked out as I think if it's still bright red or clots come out at this stage it could mean an infection. Weirdly I had no real pain from it so would never have know...
Had the mirena coil fitted at 12 weeks postnatal (not risking any more pregnancies!!) and bled for nearly 7 weeks following (albeit lightly) but since then nothing. With the other 2 DCs my periods didn't return until 8 or 9 months postnatal. One bonus of b'feeding!
How is Tubbs? Are you still having engorgement issues? I still have oversupply issues even nearly 6 months down the line

Bella so glad you are feeling more chilled- you're doing so well for a first timer! Sounds like you'll have a fab time at the hotel- what a lovely DP you have! How is the job hunting & house hunting? Don't envy you moving house, especially when you hadn't planned to, but probably easier now than when pregnant perhaps?!

Head how is the house of contagion? colds are so miserable for littlies. hope you're managing to get enough rest with you DH away too. So with you on the dinner times, most meals F perches on my knee and tortures me by trying to grab everything vaguely within range.

blue - another Greys Anatomy fan! i love it! DH will tolerate it- am missing the episode at mo as my Dad's over staying with us and the boys are watching motorbikes---it's the northwest 200 bike race up here tomorrow...

irish have a fab time in Seville! Make the most of it! Was asked for a copy of my passport the other day and had to confess that I haven't renewed mine since just before DS was born, over 5 years ago, because we haven't made it abroad since having DCs... but done lots of UK & Ireland trips mind!

well am now sitting with F on one knee. She's been a bit unsttled past couple of days. Maybe teething, or a growth spurt, or just having everyone at home all day as DS off school still, and we're quite housebound... Anyhow she's finally started properly on solids- turns 6 months old next week- trying a combination of blw and purees. Can any of you recall if they got extra windy when starting solids? I can't remember, embarrassingly, from DS & DD1... F seems to be a very windy baby though generally, which doesn't help the whole sleep issue. nights been pretty hard going again, not helped by having both DS & F in bed with me...and being so tired I'm probably not getting her to take full feeds...still the spring sunshine's keeping us going! and those gorgeous smiles

think i'm going to finish my glass of vino and snuggle up in bed with my littlest to try to settle her... gosh that asounds awful, cosleeping after drinking! but it's only a tiny glass, promise! (accompanied too by oat cakes & houmous!)

night all, sleep tight- and have a lovely weekend xxx

ps. any sign of wasabi yet?

sorry for typos...and why oh why so I always right "just a quickie post" when I am useless at being succinct!!