Due Dec 2023 - part 6

[Nclktnntt]

Follow-on from part 5 heading into delivery and motherhood.

@Charlielechat yup it’s so hard! I try not to feed but it’s the quickest way to get her back to sleep. So now I think we’re sliding into her eating more at night which is bad and making the whole situation worse.

@Nclktnntt they said it is eczema but very mild. We’ve been told to increase how often we’re applying the cream (epaderm) and if that doesn’t work to go back.

@Mushroo @Charlielechat i think it’s really normal for them to need more feeds at night at this stage. Massive development changes. They also can be really distracted during the day and trickier to feed as they’re noticing so much more. It will even out again. I definitely found with my eldest during his first year he was really up and down with how much he fed at night. We are ebf though and I know things are a bit different with formula fed babies.

I'm not sure if the regression has hit here or not. he's not actually 4 months yet, but he was late so would have been 4 months already if came on his due date and around that time he suddenly started waking up in the night after sleeping through, fully awake too and talking to himself, thankfully he's not upset or anything and will settle again most of the time, usually around 5 am he wakes for about 45 mins. Saturday night was the worst he's been, waking roughly every hour from about midnight. I realised he was a little too cold though as the weather has changed again so I've put him in his higher tog sleeping bag last night and he was much better. Will see how tonight goes but fingers crossed 🤞

I hope the regression doesn't last too long for those in it. @Charlielechat I have read that if you're feeding them when the wake that they then might continue to wake through habit not hunger based on if they were going through the night that they've shown you they can go that long without needing food, however, also depends if they do actually need it, as they also have a growth spurt around now too, so may be worth trying more in the day to see if they go longer through the night again.

@Mushroo ahhh maybe my little one does have eczema then, the creams they've given me are for eczema, psoriasis and all dry skin conditions. Hopefully his skin clears up soon. I hope your little ones skin clears up soon and yours @Avie29

Hi ladies, not sure if my LO is starting sleep regression as well? He's 18 weeks old this week and has been a lot fussier than usual today, his naps have been max 30 minutes each last few days, and his wake window is all over the place. He's also been waking up crying/screaming from some of his naps.

@99SR my little boy has also started to do a high pitched shriek, it's so loud!

@Charlielechat I've bought the transitional love to dream sleepsuit and i've zipped off the 'wings' as he started to roll a few weeks ago (although hasn't rolled again since 🤔) - could that be an option for you? My little boy took a couple of nights to get used to having his arms out but he's since slept really well with only the odd wake up here and there.

@Mushroo @Nclktnntt Yeah that's my worry, as I don't think he's actually even hungry 🙈 He gets 2 bottles of formula in the evening and I breastfeed him every 2 hours or so during the day, so I think it's become habit now. So hard!

@Beans1982 I did see those at the time but didn't buy one just in case it was no different to a normal sleeping bag...Did you ever use one sleeve at a time or did you just go cold turkey?

I wonder if it's a bit of separation anxiety as he now cries every time he's in the car if no one is sitting beside him. Also cries if I leave the room to go grab something. He tries to grab onto my arm or hand at night, breaking my heart!

@Nclktnntt my second baby had eczema and grew out of it by age 2 so hoping thats the case for Amber and your little boy, shes definitely feeling less grouchy today been rolling all over the living room, squeaking and giggling bless her xx

@Charlielechat Just went cold turkey...he wore it for a couple of naps before I braved a full night. On the first night of wearing it to bed, he moved his arms a bit to start with but quickly got used to having his arms out.

Has everyone bought a highchair already? I'm currently researching and narrowed it down to two - Maxi Cosi Minla Evolutive and Tutti Bambini Nova - anyone else looking at either of these? I'm keen to get a highchair that's adaptive so we can get max use out of it.

@Charlielechat i do a dream feed around 10pm then she gets up around 3/4 for a feed usually. However she has cmpa and barely eats during the day so I think she needs the night feeds still but I know what you mean in your situation! It’s so tricky!!

@Beans1982 the shriek is so hard to deal with huh!? My partner actually had to take her out in the pram tonight to get her to sleep cause she wouldn’t stop screaming haha but not crying!! Just the scream? Hopefully this is a short phase for all us mummies!

We haven’t been too bad on the sleep front, slightly earlier wake up but naps have been all over the place as he fights them so hard. One lasted 15 minutes which was awful for all of us. We use sleep music from YouTube when he’s getting overtired and 8/10 it works and worst case it calms him and the best we’ve had it is he shuts his eyes in 3 seconds. I’ve now resorted to leaving it on near his bed at times to help him have a proper nap as otherwise he gets irritable.

Anyone else have a baby who hates tummy time? Our LO loves being on his back, can kick for hours and he’s great in the baby carrier but he just hates tummy time. He’s actually good at it in that he hold his head up really well but he gets frustrated as he then almost is trying to crawl by using his legs and we end up having to roll him over. We’ve tried a towel and him being elevated, having toys, a water mat and we get down on the floor. We are definitely not doing the amount of floor time needed but with the carrier counting we are probably close to the target. I’m just worried it’s affecting him being able to roll over and in the future crawl. Any tips would be much appreciated!

@Vsah22 I wouldn't worry too much of your LO doesn’t like tummy time. My first DD had a very large umbilical hernia and hated tummy time too, we only ever managed a few minutes a day most days. She started to be more interested in tummy time around 7 months, and went on to crawl really quickly after that, before the turned 8 months. I remember my mum telling me that when I was a baby tummy time wasn’t really a thing at all, but most babies still went on to crawl within the average timeframe 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve also read that the baby carrier is really good for strengthening neck and core, so if he enjoys being in the carrier then that’s good a good little workout for him!

@Vsah22 my little girl hates being on her tummy too, so honestly didn’t put her on her tummy as much as we should have but she learnt to roll from back to tummy first- a few days ago and then yesterday rolled from tummy to back for first time so i don’t think tummy time is all that important when it comes to learning rolling really xx

@Vsah22 I was really stressed about tummy time as my LO hated it and cried after a minute or two. I carried him about over my shoulder around the house, on my forearm, and did 1-2 minutes of tummy time during each wake window. He still only lasts a few minutes now at 19 weeks but his head control is so much better and he rolled over onto his back for the first time today. It sounds like you're doing a lot anyway so I wouldn't stress! LO will do all these things exactly when he wants to! I think as they mature a bit they have more interest in doing things!

@99SR @Beans1982 I'm so glad you guys have had a shrieking baby as well I thought I'd done something wrong to mine 😂 she started about two weeks ago but I think is now nearing the end of it (thank goodness!) it's so weird as she does it when she's happy and it replaced her lovely cute babbling! She has a smile on her face whilst she makes a distinctly not happy sounding noise!
We essentially just turned our heads away and didn't give her attention when she did the noise and I think she's learnt now that it's not our favourite thing! Babbling is back this morning - yay!

@Nclktnntt how is your little ones rash today? I used baby oil instead of lotion for her massage last night and the rash is barely visible this morning, was thinking maybe its her baby lotion or something in it drying her skin out 🤔 xx

@Avie29 it's almost gone completely today, still dry and has dry patches, the worst one is almost gone too. His face cleared up Monday and there's just a few bits left, back of the knees is a little bit too, so I think it is possibly eczema even though the doctor didn't think it was.

I'm glad your little ones almost cleared up now too. I stopped using his oil for massages and I'm thinking it could have been his lotion because I bathed him and put his lotion a couple days before it had all gotten worse - so I think there's an ingredient in it his skin doesn't like but I'm not brave enough to try the oil again yet.

So our little one appears to be learning to scream - I was thinking he'd already started but nope, today was a definite scream with a smile 😂 we're going on holiday in just over a week, sounds like we're going to have fun😂

Tonight we had a bad night though, uncontrollable crying, not settling, kinda like colic - I've been with thinking he might have silent reflux more and more recently but tonight was another level. He never cries like he did tonight 😢

Hey can I ask what activities / toys everyone does / has with their babies at home? Now that my baby is more alert (18 weeks), naps less and can see what’s going on I feel like I should be maybe get him some more toys or think of some good activities to do with him at home…

@gurlwhaat my lg has a sit me up chair which she loves to sit in and watch the world go by (her siblings playing vr is fascinating apparently) she also has a jumperoo but she hasn’t quite got the hang of it yet mostly just looks at the toys and chomps on the seat lol she has a play gym and ‘thats not my’ books i actually bought them for my youngest son and they both really enjoy them, i have just bought a large play rug with different pictures n textures now she is rolling over as her play gym mat is too small for rolling and i don’t like her rolling on the carpet lol xx

@Avie29 ooh thank you I will have a look into these!!

Heya everyone, I hope you're having a lovely bank holiday weekend!

What do you wash your little ones clothes with? We were using kit n kin but it's been out of stock for the last 6 weeks and i have enough for one more load, maybe 2. With our LOs skin being sensitive, I want to use a baby specific one that's not super scented, I find fairy's smell beautiful but way too strong personally.

Hey @Nclktnntt we're just using Persil non-bio and the sensitive comfort as a conditioner, but not sure how suitable it would be for sensitive skin - LO has a faint rash in patches on his skin and the doctor recommended Aveeno which seems to help. I hope your LO is doing well.

How is everyone getting on with sleep regression? I'm convinced my LO is now experiencing it as he wakes a few times in the night and sleeps very little during the day. His reflux seems to have gotten slightly worse as well, is this also part of regression? anyone else experienced worse reflux around 19 weeks?

@Beans1982 I'm afraid to jinx it but I think we're coming out of it now at 20 weeks. We had two weeks of disrupted sleeps and then three weeks of LO waking every single hour - it was very tough going! I'm not sure if it was regression or teething. He did seem to have some discomfort after feeds too though and a lot of gas so hard to say if it was reflux! We haven't done anything differently this week - maybe just giving teething powder more frequently but can't say for sure! I just hope it lasts!

So interesting you mention the reflux as our little girl is now 20 weeks and I've noticed the past few weeks that she has been bringing up a bit more milk more often. I had never thought about it being linked to the regression.

Thank you @beans

We're in the regression I think, waking roughly every hour at night but settles quickly apart from occasionally he'll be awake awake and take about an hour to fall back asleep. He's recently got better during the day for naps so hopefully we're coming out the other side! Last week I suspected silent reflux as he was constantly being sick, just little bits, even 3 hours later, never straight after a bottle. So I think that was peak fussy news and peak week as his sleep was terrible. I also think he's teething, he puts his fingers in his mouth, hooks his bottom gums and pulls down - seems so rough.

So you might have a point with reflux and regression there.