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

oooh Bella - bet you can't stop staring at your ring . How lovely and exciting and lovely again. Like you I can take or leave jewellery but do love my engagement ring - my only piece of bling! Your DP may very well soon be your DH at this rate .

Had to at you not being very good with plants but being able to grwo a person - that is so true and we are all phenomeonal for doing it! I do look at Ben's rolls of fat on his legs and think "I did that" .

Fingers crossed on your house and your CV. There is plenty time to think about work, just savour this time with George but I don't need to tell you that as you are emersed in the loveliness of him .

Ben only lasted abour 2 weeks in his tummy tub as he much preferred to bath with his big brother. Saying that we stagger their baths now so I can have him settled and then read Isaac his stories. I'm very lo tech and just hold him in the big bath and have one arm to wash/tickle him. He loves it and loves swooshing around. We did have overbath type bath for Isaac but going to miss that stage out this time around..

I need to read more into BLW so am no expert on the subject but the jist - I think - is to let them decide what to eat. To wait until they are older and can pick food up like banana chicken drumsticks-- toast etc. I spoke to my HV about it and she recommended doing finger foods but in addition to purees. If you wait until G is 6 months you won't have to completely puree the fruit and veg. as they can go straight onto it being a bit more lumpy. I will be whizzing with my food blender again but still do it for Isaac, in that I still make up big batches of say tuna lasagna and pop it in the freezer so used to all the faff. One thing I look back on with Isaac and feel proud (although as wasabi says no-one was there giving me a badge!) is that he never had a baby jar. I was a rubbish cook before I had him (lived off salad sandwiches) and I vowed to make things from scratch for him as felt if I bought even one jar I would just succumb and never cook. Its totally opened cooking up for me and I can now rustle up anything and its been a joy watching Isaac wolf down his chicken casserole/pasta carbonara etc. Not to say he doesn't get pizza and sausages too but knowing he got the best home made food makes me feel proud and he is a fantastic eater.

Ahem, can you tell I have some time on my hands! Isaac is at playgroup and Ben is sleeping.

Talking of which...

We did have some progress last night...

I fed Ben at his normal bedtime (6.45pm) with one wee top up at 7.30pm (he always falls asleep before I can switch boobs). He stirred again at 8pm and I settled him without boob (do this normally if I know he has had a good feed). He stirred at 9pm BUT this time DH went up to him while I sat on my hands in the kitchen... He cried for 5 mins then went back down...

..until midnight! Then only up once more at 3.15am!! Stirred at 5.30am but went back to sleep until 7am and was happy to let me change him before feeding so obviously not starving!

Fluke? Possibly but it surely it shows he does not need all this milk during the night and I have been feeding him as the quickest option to keep him quiet and not wake his brother and it has become what he needs to get back to sleep. We are going to keep up with the DH settling him if he wakes before a 3-hour gap which I know is easier to do at 9pm than 2am .

Only downside was my boobs were so full that Benoverfed and threw up this morningbut think he has the lurgy that is going around down our way.

Oh and its raining today

wasabi - agree with Bella - your DS sounds like quite the character and lovely mental image of him up at his window

Have a good day everyone x

Just copied my good new over here too Bella . Hell it may only be a one off but it has given me some much needed shut eye.

He is pretty much 4-hourly now and will happily go as much. In fact on meltdownmonday he went nearly 5 hours as he was fed at 11am and not again until 3.45pm but that was due to my Mum not bringing him back til then. I wouldn't let him go as long as that but he was content

So feeds are roughly

7am
11am
2.30pm
6.45pm..

Hi all,

C is doing a super snooze thanks to her jabs this morning and F is at my parents so have put down my duster and dishcloth for 5 mins for a quick post. I have a cup of decaff and a bag of maltesters so am happy

Blue I'm so glad you had a nice day with your boys yesterday and that B gave you an improved night last night. Just a few unbroken hours of sleep can make a big old difference when you are a bit emotional and wobbly. I remember the first time F did a 5 hours stretch at night - I woke up and felt like I'd been at a spa.

On the subject of food I think you should feel very proud for learning to cook for Isaac. I already cooked a fair bit as DH and I are well into our cooking and eating and the family mealtime thing is rally important to us. F has always been a good eater. We never had any messing over vegetable refusal or anything like that and he is still mercifully unfussy although has developed a penchant for Pom Bears. I guess it could be worse. I just hope C is as into her food. Your HV's comments on BLW are interesting. I think a lot of them think its a bit new fangled!

Bella pureeing was a bit of a faff I suppose but really not too bad if I think about it properly. You can help yourself by thinking about it a bit and whenever you have the over on stick some sweet potatoes or random root veg in there in a foil parcel for an hour or so and then just mash them. I always did roots in the oven as I think it makes them sweeter and nicer than boiling them. I'd also do batch cooking - I still do actually and freeze loads of little fish pies and portions of chilli and that sort of thing. DS LOVES chilli with loads of sour cream and "green sauce" otherwise known as guacamole. I suppose I am leaning towards BLW as being the easiest option but I suspect I shall do a bit of both. DS point blank refused a spoon round about 8 months so we moved to finger foods pretty fast anyway.

Bella Aw I bet you are thrilled with your lovely sparkly pressie! Quite right too. I think its great that you are enjoying your maternity leave so much. I didn't so much with F as I was in a bit of post natal slump which led me to go back to work at 7 months which I really regret now. I struggled to adjust to motherhood if I am being honest. I love it now but I struggled to let go of my old life. It sounds like you are way more flexible and switched on than I was!

Irish You're back! Glad we haven't scared you too much We await your update!

Anyhooo C has predictably just woken so got to dash...

My goodness this thread has moved fast!

Have to admit to skim reading as not much chance at mo on the web. Struggling a bit again, just so much to do and so little time. Need at least a couple of extra hours in each day. Have a (clean) laundry mountain to put away, and a tonne of tidying/cleaning...and cooking... Plus dissertations to mark by next week and no childcare. Hmm. And madly invited 3 families for bbq on Sun.

My Dad's been over visiting since last Tues, and got trapped by the ash cloud, so finally got home yest, was nice in a way to have extra company but he needs a bit of looking after too so in a way relieved to be back to us 5 (plus the 2 mad dogs...). So know what wasabi means about the need for solitude... I yearn for it too...and then feel guilty of course!!

Weaning here is very haphazard this time... I have got quite sloppy about not introducing certain foods until older- Ffion is so good at grabbing stuff off our plates at mealtimes I'm just letting her suck at anything (within reason), and discovered bizarrely that she's rather partial to toast crusts... So much for sticking to no gluten... . Otherwise I'm making up the Plum organic baby porridge (pure baby rice = constipation IME) with butternut squash, which she seems to quite like. Mashed banana she wasn't so convinced by. Pears good, apples good. moving on to carrots, parsnips etc. soon. Enjoys making a complete mess of broccoli spears!
Ironically we were ultra cautious weaning DS (followed optimum nutrition/Lucy Burney), and he developed severe eczema which started at a year old. With DD1 due to her CF we were told to wean her quickly onto the higher calorie foods- i.e. dairy, gluten etc. at 6 months. She has no eczema. Obviously not a scientific trial by any means but I'm going with the exposure = better tolerance theory at the mo in hope the Ffion escapes DS's skin probs.

Sorry that sounded like a rant, wasn't meant to

Got to get back to duties... DS back to school tomorrow, can't believe it's already 2 weeks since his op, he's such a quick healer it's amazing...

Sleep tight all, especially all babes!

Promise to try to catch up properly, i.e. personally, soon xxx

Evening all - it has gone quiet again in here. Hopefully that is due to the nice weather and happy and well rested babies and toddlers

Everything is OK here. Realised that I didn't need to feed G at each of his wakings last night when he settled very quickly at 10:30 and went for another 3 hours. I'm hoping that this will get him back to doing the long stretch again but we will see. I really need not to be in such a sleepy daze since I have a whole house to pack up very soon. I hate packing and moving. ugh.

jumping you must be beside yourself with tiredness. Is there no way that you could drop one of your balls? Or get some outside help? It makes me feel knackered just reading what you have on your plate right now you poor thing. At least DS has bounced back brilliantly from his op...but gosh it must be quite exhausting tackling weaning when you already have so little energy. are you getting some good photos?

head are you ok? I hope that everyone's colds have gone. G is very snotty but not whinging so I have just doused his room with Karvol.

I had a bit of a shock when i opened my bank statement this afternoon. Maternity pay doesn't really touch the sides does it! no summer holidays for me!

sunny are you being supported by those lovely post birth happy hormones? mine have definitely gone now - all my hair is starting to come out now too. I am happy about that though as it was getting so thick it was out of control.

blue hope Ben's nights are continuing to improve

oh my god i am suddenly so tired I am going to go to sleep right now!
sorry wasabs and Irish - will get to you next t ime xxx

Morning,

Its going to be a scorcher here today - I so should have fake tanned my legs last night...

Bella - had a at mat pay 'not touching the sides' - how true! Good to hear G has started to stretch his feeds out and stretched feed = more sleep hopefully! Hope you are going to rope in help with the move and not do it all on your own.

Jumping - you have a such a bust, busy life I can only imagine howyhard it is to keep all the plates spinning. I have a feeling you do like to be kept busy but you need to try and get some down time too. I think you're right in introducing things so baby can build up a tolerance rather than avoid them altogether. I started a thread on BLW the other day and I'm still keen to dabble but it feels a little too 'in at the deep end' for me just to go straight from milk only to toast/chicken/steak! Will probably still do purees but keep them lumpy. Ben has been staring at me eating this past week so think he is getting ready for it all. Only one month to go!

I've actually had a poorly Ben on my hands but he is much better today (he had a temp and gastro viral infection - took him to docs yesterday)). Not much sleep for either of us on Wed. night but he slept from 7pm to 1.30AM last night and my boobs were agony and had completely soaked through my breast pads and t-shirt - ouch! Thankfully he took a good feed at 1.30am then again at 4am so no exploding Blue for DH to clean up. Think his longer stretch on tues. night was due to him being poorly than some magical wand DH waved when he settled him at 9pm .

BUT Ben is definately happily going 4 hours between day feeds so once he is right as rain we're going to continue with DH settling him if he wakes before a 3 hour window during the night...

Head - Has your DH been any quieter in the mornings this week?

Irish - Have you started thinking about names yet?

Sunny - off to buy those teats today although Ben has actually taken some cooled water from a cup! So that's being thrown into the equation, wait til 6 months then offer him cup instead for day time milk and keep boob for first/last thing...

My SIL (DH's brother's wife)had her second DD this morning . All well and she is gorgeous (BIL sent over piccie). You just can't beat the newborn curled up like a comma look can you . She is really keen to bf this time around and I have offered her every help I can. Bit worried as her family descends on her at the best of times and having folk drippng all over you is the worst when you are trying to establish bf and get through the toe curling first 10 days..

Have a lovely sunny day everyone x

Oh wasabi - forgot to mention Isaac loves pom bear crisps. He always gets a packet of crisps as a Friday treat when we pick him up form nursery and it used to be Quavers but its Pom Bears all the way these days .

Hi everyone,

What a glorious day! Clara is having one of her long morning snoozes and I have finished my ironing - hooray!

I have posted some new pictures when you have a moment to look. Blue and Bella mentioned that DS sounds like a bit of a character - he is that all right. He was your typical spirited baby and still is although a lot easier to manage now because he spends almost every second of the day outside if at all possible. He has so much energy it astounds me. Anyway, "The chocolate incident" occured last weekend when we made his fave maltester cake. Unfortunately he then went outside with DH, fell over and smacked his forehead and nose on the patio, hence the pic taken of him and Clara later that afternoon contains a Fred with a big bruise on his forehead and scratches on his nose! I really felt the need to justify it when he went in to nursery this week. It's a proper social services bruise that one.

Daft kid.

Jumping I have to echo the others and say that your schedule is nothing short of superwoman stuff! I am so lazy by comparison. I get a bit on edge if we have a lot on. I'm so glad to hear that your DS is well enough to get back to school. Interesting to see your thoughts on weaning and am glad that Ffion is happily embracing her toast crusts! I hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy your BBQ.

Blue Oh poor little B and poor you having to deal with a poorly tummy. I know what you mean about the "exploding boobs" problem. On Tuesday night Clara slept uninterrupted from 7pm to 5am (don't hate me she hasn't done it since) but I woke with exactly the same problem. It hurt me to pick her up and feed her and I expressed loads as well afterwards. Its great isn't it? When they do sleep we wake up anyway with giant, leaking lallies! Nice. I hope your SIL gets on well with her new DD. The comma pictures are always so beautiful aren't they? When Clara lost that newborn look I did mourn a bit - as I suspect I will when every stage passes. It's because I know she is my last that everything seems more poignant this time.

Bella I really feel for you having to pack up and move soon. It is a horrid, eye poppingly stressful experience. I would ask if you could get a removal form in to help pack but your comments about your bank statement kind of say it all Having babies is a wonderful thing but there is no doubt that they do some dreadful damage to your bank balance. Worth it though I LOVED your commenst about being rubbish at growing plants but good at growing people. I reminded myself of it at 3am this morning whe sat in C's room feeding her back to sleep.

Sorry everyone else - my peaceful time is over C wants her elevenses. Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

Blue I'm glad to know mine isn't the only one with a Pom Bear addiction! Am going to look for your BLW thread while C is filling her bootees.

I have added some photos too...
wasabi yours are really lovely. so blonde!

It's baking here. No sign of improvement on the sleep front but I did experiment with a late nap instead of early bedtime last night and ... it doesn't work. I was too tired to try to settle without feeding at whatever o clock, which is kind of the problem isn't it.
blue DP has been so busy with work he hasn't been sleeping much more than me anyway so I don't feel that I can ask him to help out, but I will do when he has a lull or when I night wean. I was all excited about last night but G put himself to sleep - albeit with me singing to him, kneeling out of sight like some weird baby spy - and he was already very drowsy. I don't know how to get him to that sort of drowsy state without a full tummy tbh. Anyway I thought that was supposed to mean that they would be able to put themselves back to sleep too. Apparently this is uncorrect, as a client of mine used to say...

Naps have been better timed by fluke today and i am hoping that he has found it very tiring watching me sip coffees and frappuccinos with my friends in the park and will therefore sleep like a log tonight. You gotta love my daily optimism When he is 12 I will proabably saying the same thing

blue poor old you with a sick Isaac. I can't do links but google isabelagranic. She has a blog in which she discusses the sleep regressions. I think another poster linked to it in the sleep section. At least at 6 months things get better. usually. apparently.
I have found that I am a bit in denial about G's crap nights and say that he is only feeding twice a night - which is true if you don't count the fact that I have to have him almost surgically attached to my boob fom 5 ish to keep him asleep. It's not because I am embarrassed or anything but i find that if you give a more honest picture then people start wanting to give you advice. Yes yes baby rice - mm yes I have thought about leaving him to cry
yawn yawn yawn. He's just LIKE that people!!!
Rant over

I am really enjoying this weather. I hope it's not like this when I am packing up or i will be doubly gutted! wasabi i think we will probably splash out on a man with a van. I can't be dismantling beds and what have you.

Right. Off to tend to a baby who has decided to put himself back to sleep at the end of a nap for the first time ever, just when I don't want him too. waah! why can't he do freak behaviour at night!?!?

Hello ladies
Sorry that I have been remiss in getting back to update you all on my weekend.

So I had a great time in Seville withteh ladies - it was very hot though so I spent hte last day sitting in the shade by the pool. Bliss. I burn at the mere mention of sun so had my factor 50 on as well just to be sure.

Had one hormonal moment - basically the first day there I had each of the girls ask meabout 3/4 times each how I was feeling? ws I tired? how was I now? I wasn't going to say anything because they were just concerned but when one of the other girls commented on it I decided that was enough so at dinner turned around and said"I appreciate all of your concern but it can get a bit wearing so I'll let you know if I'm tired/unwell/whatever." Thankfully I know everyone well enough that they didn't take offense. Stopped all ofhte questions though

Went on a bus tour of Seville, ate lots of tapas, saw the cathedral, got freaked out by bats at night and generally had a ball.

I got home on Tuesday and my lovely DH had driven to work that day to spare me the trauma of even more public transport.

Had an extra 2 days off after to recover from my holidays and just chill out. I have loads of holidays to take that I can't carry over to next year so may as well make use of them.

blue how has Ben been sleeping
well for you since your breakthrough? I like cooking for other people myself and can't wait to have a go at cooking for baby. DH is fairly handy in the kitchen he's got a few special dishes.
Great news about your SIL - loads of babies
being born around me at the minute.
I also love Pom Bears -
I have my names picked out - a bit afraid to tell people but you ladies are an exception

Noah for a boy or Aoife for a girl
(pronounced Eefa) - do your worst ladies

wasabi - love your stories of your lovely DS - he sounds a lot like my nephew who is 5 in July. Pics are so lovely though.

Jumping you have a mental schedule altogether. Hats off to you managing everything and keeping everything running.

wasabi sounds like you have your hands full as well with the move and CV writing. I really hate the whole CV faff - if I wasn't pg I might have been on that road myself.
Definitely get a man with a van - it would defbe worth it. I LOL at your little rant - I'm sure I'll be the same when I come around to it I'll have all my sisters and MIL telling me what I need to do.

Head - hope your cold has gone away. So not easy to have a cold and a bubba.

Sunny hope you are managing well.

Right better go am loooking after my yournger brother this weekend, and have to get ready for a 5 year old party tomorrow where I am the chief face painter. Weather is mean tot be fab here this weekend so the children should be able to keep themselves occupied outdoors thank God.

oh my goodness - G just got woken up by DP's loud entrance. but i listened to him whinge - and if he hasn't only gawn and put himself back to sleep! woweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. this is after i have just discovered that he goes to sleep with far fewer tears if I put him in the cot drowsy rather than rocking him to sleep. twill be interesting to see how this unfolds...for me at least.

sorry no personals - just couldn't think of anyone else who would understand what a sense of achievement this brings!

Bella that's brilliant - congratulations

Hope this heralds a whole new era in sleep filled nights for you all.

Hi All,

Been AWOL due to getting Gastroenteritis on Friday night. Man its been a tough weekend. Throwing up both ends, just wanting to die... Ben was brought to me for feeds and I had to feed him and throw up at one point . Made me feel v. vulnerable and exposed as I am his only source of food .

DH has been a total star. He took both boys away to his Mum' on Sat. after Ben's 11am feed (thank goodness he is now 4-hourly) and they managed to get him to take a NUK bottle at 3pm so I was able to lie in bed/sit on toilet/head down pan from 11am until 6.30pm..

Worried my milk was drying up as so dehydtared and boobs felt all soft but he was able to feed OK although has done a 50 minute shift at 7pm there.

Really floored me, I've lost 6lb in two days and feel like I have morning sickness all over again.

Anyway waiting for my bouncebackability to - err bounce back.

Bella - loving your new piccies of G . And gold star for him and dropping off onhis own..

Irish - Glad you enjoyed Seville and quite right too saying ot your friends . I love your names, they are both fabulous! big Blue stamp of approval - for what its worth .

Hey to everyone else, trying to decde if I have enough strength to watch last ever LOST, DH is dying to see it tonight so he can discuss it with his work colleagues tomorrow

Back later on in the week when my stools are more - ahem - sold .

solid - as if I would sell my poo

oh my god blue that is too much you must be feeling like a worn out shadow of your former self. How horrendous. Ugh. Wishing you a very very speedy recovery. God i wish I could send you tickets for a holiday to somewhere hot sunny and relaxing. I would if I could

irish totally love both names too by the way. two thumbs up.
Good for you for finding that annoying. I am embarrassed to say that I slightly milked all that. I liked feeling like a precious vessel but i know that most people don't.

I'm watching Summer Height High. Hi - larious.

love to all.

come back soon and tell us how you are x xx

Hiya all...

Sorry I've been awol too, my cold turned in to something a bit more serious, chest infection, sinus infection, the lot. I had a raging temperature for a week and felt like dying.

Blue so sorry to hear you were ill too, it's absolutely flaming rotten isn't it? Well done on keeping feeding through it all though, I just about managed it when I had norovirus earlier in the year and I'm convinced that's why Francesca managed to avoid catching it too. She still hasn't got my chest infection too, so this breast milk stuff is pretty potent stuff!

Bella So glad G managed to self settle. Francesca almost did it tonight, she was crying after I put her in her cot, but not the hysterical screaming she usually does but the tired wimpering cry of an exhausted baby, and lo she did eventually stop herself! I'm sure it'll never happen again, but it does feel like some kind of amazing breakthrough doesn't it?

Irish Glad you had a great holiday, Seville is fab, I went ages ago with my parents and loved it. The heat is exhausting when you're pg though! I remember being in the south of France when I was pg with Luca and having to stand in the swimming pool all day reading my book just to keep cool, and I love the heat!

I love Love love your names, Aoife is sooo pretty, just wish I had some Irish blood in me so I could have used it! Noah is very cute too, I imagine a Noah to have freckles and a cheeky grin

wasabi lovely pics, Clara is so sweet, and your ds is cute as a button!

Jumping I hope you've managed to slow down a bit I do have to doff my hat to you and your ability to juggle those balls.

As I've been so ill this last week I've been pretty much co sleeping with Francesca, because I've had to get some sleep. She's still having a dream feed at about 10.30 and waking up for another feed around 1.30-2am and then another one around 5am, but I usually bring her in to bed with me at the 1.30am feed and let her get on with it while I fall asleep. I usually turn a torch on just to help me see to make sure she's ok, the other day I woke up at 3.30am, she'd been on my boob for two hours and the torch was down to a flicker

I think I'm quite happy to keep on with things as they are, co-sleeping is really making a difference for me, so until she goes in to her own room in a few weeks I'll leave things as they are. As she's been in the same feeding pattern for a while now I think that's pretty much going to be it until she starts weaning and getting more solid calories in to her. Hopefully.

Sorry to be so brief, I'm still trying to get to bed really early so I can get an hour's sleep in before Francesca's dream feed. All these bugs have left me so wiped out I need my sleep!

I hope everyone's enjoyed the lovely weather, shame it appears it's all over now

Big hugs all round

xx

Oh Blue and Head you poor things, sound like you've both been through the mill with illnesses. Hope you're both well on the mend.
Hurrah to Ben taking the Nuk bottle Blue- glad it let you rest a wee bit. I'm sure your milk supply is still fine, bodies are clever things- investing in the next generation usually over your own health!!
Head am with you on the cosleeping front. In fact Ffion is following a very similar routine at night- feeding at around 10.30 (sort of dream feed), then a longer feed at 1am, and another long feed around 5am, then up at 7am though not feeding til around 9am then. We seem to cosleep most nights after her 1am feed, though have managed a couple of times not to cosleep until after the 5am feed, but depends how much energy I have to settle her back into her cot after 1am...hmmm! She's still in our room at the moment in spite of now being 6 months- the fact she's feeding quite often at night and I'm lazy means that it's easier to have her with us... saying that poor DH struggles to get back to sleep when woken so he's been in the spare room a lot. I miss him Not great for "marital relations" really, this night feeding malarky!! Not that I have any energy anyhow!!

Bella so so glad G is beginning to learn to self settle! Hope it's the start of the next phase in sleeping! How's the CV writing? Hate doing it too!

Irish LOVE your name choices! Know a little Aoife well, she's gorgeous, and it's not overly common either (yet most people seem to know how to spell it over here). Have to say it is one of the prettiest Irish names I know of. Noah is great too, only know one of those as well, and it's a beautiful name. How are you feeling? Are you into the 3rd trimester now?

How are the night wakenings wasabi? Hope you're coping ok.

Sunny how are you?

Ffion and Mairi (DD1) start at childminder's tomorrow. Feeling v emotional about it, but have to do it as need to increase my hours and MIL can't do more than the 2 mornings. DH sadly down to a 4 day week as his company are in trouble, so no choice but for me to take any work offered. Really hadn't planned to work so soon, especially as F is my last baby Still, at least it's only mornings. Just miss being able to go to baby groups etc., and focus just on the DCs- feel like the past 6 months has flown.

Right, time's up, must leave work to gather the brood ready for dentist en masse at 2.30! wish us luck...!!

Love to you all, sorry not great at the personals xxxx

Hey there ladies,

I am going to attempt the very ambitious task of typing this whilst also watching the finale of Lost on what is probably its 5th showing. I have to say that so far I am utterly lost myself having abandoned it around season 4 as it just was just getting so silly. I had a need for closure though I wonder if I will be feeling the same way about Flash Forward in a few seasons. Blue Did you watch it or get some much needed rest?

Enough of my wittering and poor taste in telly.

Blue You poor, poor thing. It sounds like you have had the most shite (in every sense of the word) few days. Just as B was starting to settle slightly and things were getting a little easier this happens! Respect for continuing to feed him yourself and its great that he so graciously accepted a bottle!

Head Sorry to hear that you too have been suffering from such a horrible infection although good that little Francesca didn't succumb. Your faith in the power of breast milk is inspiring. I guess I share it or I wouldn't be so determined to continue to bf but I must admit that when Clara seems to have picked up another snotty nose from her brother I do wonder if some of the claims are overstated a bit. I'm glad the co sleeping if working out for you and that the little lady is in a reasonably regular pattern even if it would be nice if that pattern contained one or two less wakings!

Irish How did your face painting go? I absolutely love the name Noah. I love biblical names for boys generally but especially like that one. I have never heard of Aoife before not being of Irish descent but it sounds really pretty. I'm glad that you had a good time in Seville. It sounds like you handled the situation really well with your friends asking a little too often how you were. Its always tough when you know people mean well but are driving you spare nonetheless. It's great that you are all grown up enough to be able to speak frankly and not take offence.

Jumping Oooooh you have my every good wish with Ffion starting with the childminder. It must be so hard for you. Bloody money is such a PITA isn't it? I couldn't help but raise a wry smile at your comment on marital relations. I haven't co slept as much as yoy and Head since the first few weeks but I have to say that even being in the same bed as DH without C being present hasn't made much of a difference! All we ever want to do in bed is sleep.

Bella Well done to little George on the self settling. It feels like we're all moving to the next stage doesn't it? Your pictures are lovely. He is such a sweet little fella.

Well Clara is also starting to settle a little more. She goes down awake quite a lot now and doesn't wake up screaming after 40 minutes anymore! She often wakes and make these little "nyet nyet" noises like she;s chatting to herself in Russian but then conks out again. At night she's going down at 7ish then wakes at 1-2 and then 4-5. DH does the first wake up with an expressed bottle and I do the second. I do wonder of she os genuinely hungry on the second wake up as she doesn't feed for long but really can't be bothered trying to get her back to sleep for an hour when I can feed her back to sleepyville in 10-15 mins. She then goes through until 7 - 7.30 so I'm not complaining. She's had the odd night where she skipped the first feed entirely or just done one wake up at abotu 2.30 but not for a week or so now. I think we have just been through another growth spurt.

I must admit I am quite looking forward to seeing if weaning makes a difference. Mind you, I am also loving my 4 month old baby girl. I just love her soft, sweet skin and beautiful smell. Often especially on night feeds I just hold her close when she's finished and breathe her in. Why do they change so fast?

Hello everyone

head and blue i really hope you're both feeling better. You must be beyond knackered. Ugh. such such such bad luck

jumping sorry you have to hand F over to the childminder. That must feel horrid. I am dreading the day I have to give G over to someone else.

wasabi our littlies sound quite similar. I have noticed that if G goes off in his cot from awake rather than semi comatose it does make a huge difference to the night. The heat threw us off a bit because his room was like a sauna - no air coming through and poor little guy looked like a bright red tomato and got a bit freaked out by it i think.
He has however also twice done the waking up screaming after he's first gone down. It's good to hear Clara has stopped doing that. Any idea what made her stop? Or was it just one of those things do you think? The last few nights he has woken at 4 at 1 and at 2:30 for a feed so no pattern just yet. He also wakes around 5:30 but since he is not making Russian noises at that point I leave him to chill in his cot until he does and like you I really can't be bothered to settle him properly so I whack him on. he seems to take at most two thirds of a boob before conking out on me and we have a snooze together til 7:30 ish.

I have to say this whole self settling thing is quite tough. I can't work out what the special magical combination is because sometimes he seems to do it easily and others it's just not happening. Do you think consistency is important? did a bit of PUPD action this morning and didn't really enjoy it don't know if I could do that again...but he had nearly gone off and then it was as if he scared himself, as he howled just as he was about to go under. I saw my neighbour just now and he commented on G's healthy lungs

head I was thinking about how the phrase co-sleeping sounds a bit odd and was wondering why people just don't say sleeping together or sleeping with - then realised how very wrong that sounds

Oh and I am finding 4 months the sweetest age so far. Lots of chat the mainly goes 'aboooo' and 'gooo' and 'ohhhh'. I am also feeling a bit sad at how fast it's all going.

This evening G went down without so much of a whimper at 6:30 - naps seem to be different every day) so I must have hit the right moment. I am camping out nearby for 7:10 in case he awakes with a startle again...

wasabi i really hope you're right and that we are all turning a corner. I feel better already from not being awake on and off from 4am every day. I don't sleep well with G in my bed but then am too tired at that time to try and settle him properly in his and if i can hear him wriggling around it keeps me awake. So hopefully things will continue to improve.
x x x

ps jumping no need to worry about personals. I am amazed you even find the time to come on here to say hi!

pps wasabi i see your Lost viewing and raise you - 90210 - it's my guiltiest pleasure

Bella 90210 - you win! I'm afraid that the truth about this whole self settling thing IMO is that there is no magic combination that hits the jackpot. If there is one thing that I learned the hard way with DS it is that progress with sleep isn't linear. You have a run of good nights then it all goes pear shaped for apparently no reason. I remember sitting there with DH after we'd had a good night going "ok, he went down at 7.17pm wearing the red sleepsuit in the stripey gro bag" etc. to try and replicate what we'd done "right." We tried to trouble shoot our baby. But there is no logic. Sometimes they self settle and sleep well and sometimes they don't. It's maddening at times.

Basically, and this is a difficult thing for our generation I think who is basically used to problem solving at work, there is little you can really do. I have to say I'm not that consistent with C. Sometimes I feed her to sleep. Sometimes I put her down awake if she seems amenable. Sometimes I sit in a chair and shush pat her until she nods off. (I think this is an important one actually because she needs to learn to go to sleep without motion). When she is nearly down I pop her in her cot and just gently shush her with my hand on her chest until she's away. It all depends on what sort of a mood she's in, how hungry she is and whether DS is around. If he is at nursery or my Mum and Dads I can spend more time settling her. If he is crashing around downstairs I tend to take the route of least resistance.

I don't mean to sound completely dismissive of baby books because I think some of them have some good tips (I am a fan of the baby whisperer shush pat as you may have gathered) and I also remember that it is hard to know which bits to take and leave when you haven't done it before.

But sometimes when I am feeding C to sleep and I can almost feel Ms. Hogg looking down on us wagging a disapproving finger muttering something about rods for backs I just think "whatever."

just nipping on... excellent post wasabi about self-settling, so true.

It is wonderful if they learn to do this, of course, but it's a hard skill to learn especially this young.

I made a lot of "mistakes" (according to some) with DS feeding him to sleep for, erm, 8 months, and he was a terrible night sleeper. However we managed to reverse this pattern without resorting to controlled crying by gradually getting him to nod off from awake in his cot and by 10.5 months he slept through the night. DD1 I tryed to teach to self settle earlier, with some success, but definitely in eves aided by big bottle of formula milk. She slept through from 4 months- hurrah I thought- only to regress and become an awful night sleeper from 11 months old (when teething got bad). She's only started sleeping through properly since October (aged 2yr 4 months). But now sleeps brilliantly, as does DS. A long road though.

So with DD2 I was detemined to read lots and try everything to get her to learn to sleep well....hmmm...except I hadn't figured how much energy would be needed on my part and that having 3 DCs = zero energy. So she's mainly fed to sleep, and we cosleep, and she probably can't self settle at all. I'm just hoping like DS around 10 months it'll start to come together- usually coinciding with taking more protein from solids at that stage.

Childminder is doing a great job with the girls- DD1 loves her already (phew)- though heavily influenced by the presence of guinea pigs in her garden which she's been feeding Ffion stuggled yesterday- she needed a nap when we got there, and had only had a partial feed from me before we left home, so CM tried her with bottle to help her over and it just took ages for her to settle Eventually a combination of rocking and sucking, and sadly much crying, did the trick. In other words poor DD2 cannot self settle and basically cried to sleep... So I am feeling pretty bad I haven't tried harder to teach her self settling...
Saying that, when I arrived at lunchtime to collect them, DD2 was giggling away, having munched her lunch quite happily, so hopefully not too traumatised. Know it's going to take time but it is so hard...

Right, one more dissertation to mark...

PS. So with you wasabi & bella on the loveliness of 4+ months. I could eat Ffion at the moment, she is so scrummy, though already her smell is changing now she's on solids (as well as what happens t'other end ) and I find I miss that milky gorgeous scent of lil babies. Time really flies too fast. Saying that she is so bright, giggly and full of grabbing everything and causing mayhem she just fills me with a deep and immense joy (especially watching the other two with her, they are just wonderful at making her laugh).

She had her first haircut yesterday- her fringe had descended over her eyes so when the other 2 were having theirs cut the hairdresser gave her a wee trim! Never thought I'd have a 6 month old baby needing a haircut! (I've kept the hair of course... )

wasabi that is so funny. i have a lucky sleepsuit too
you're so right. it just isn't linear or logical. If only I had known that from the start. I have been plagued by visions of Ms hogg wagging her finger at my 'accidental parenting' (loathe that phrase). Anyway I will put less pressure on the both of us from now on. I know I have kept saying htat but it;s been a bit one step forwards and two back. My main aim has been to try to get to the stage that controlled crying won't be necessary but if I continue trying to make him self settle if he doesn't feel like it then the there will be lots of tears and therefore totally counter intuitive.
I do wish I hadn't ever got so wound up about it. Oh well. We can only learn by experience. That's why I think babies are like boyfriends. You can give other people great advice on what to do with theirs and yet still muck it all up with your own

Thanks so much for your post. It has made feel much better.

better tidy up this tip of a room now

oh and 90210 was awesome this week.

Damn it about to start post but Ben has woken up. Be back on tonight!