Misery loves company: riding the mo fo out into Part II

[ElphabaTheGreen]

In our last exciting instalments:

Needles was at breaking point with a screaming 10 mo DD

Hear had experienced the magic of ONE unbroken night!

Dreaming was continuing to confound all with her ability to manage three children on four or five minutes a night, thanks to DT the Terrible.

Stitch was still having her sleep eaten by...erm...Stitch.

Poppy was pondering how the actual fark she was going to manage a newborn on top of BabyAmex's night time shenanigans.

And the desperate Elphaba had turned night duties entirely over to DH with mastitic results.

Join us with your stories of misery and woe in this, the most sleep-deprived corner of MN!

I think boys' shoes and clothes are a lot less naff than girls'.

I take it you won't miss walking bent in half, holding his hands then?

Any news from illiterate people?

Not a peep twats

The poo seems to have subsided a bit today as well. I wonder if it was a case of his gut flora having been annihilated by me being on antibiotics for such a damn long time for my boobs.

I think dd has some sort of magnetic attraction to stairs. She just can't resist flinging herself down the bloody things. I long for a world without steps!

Fuckity fuck. Tell me what to do!?!?! After some really bad nights I'm totally fed up with Dt the Terrible. We night weaned for pre midnight wakings. It hasn't really helped and i haven't found the energy to push on. He wakes (like last night), at 10 ish. I settle. He will be rocked back to sleep in arms. Then I can't get him in the cot though. So last night I spent 40 minutes getting him in the cot from about 10:20-11pm. He then slept 20 min. DH tried to settle him. Unsuccessful. I bf him at 11:40 and he was in our bed from then, though did then sleep for 3 hours. Then couldn't get him back to sleep at 3:45... I bf him, he dozed off. Dt the Not So Angelic woke so i got up. Mummy not in bed = DT the Terrible wakes up, so then DH tried for 25 min to settle him. Unsuccessful. More milk. Finally got him to sleep on my chest at about 5:30. Others both woke 6:30, him at 6:55. So I've had about 4 hours sleep. Again. And am going to.struggle at work, guaranteed....
What should I do with this sleep hell??? Just not sure I have the strength and energy to stop feeding, but its probably needed, is it??

And stairs, yes. Both mine escape up at any possible opportunity. Only one can get down. Stupid idea. Kamikaze babies r us.

oh dreaming hugs, no idea about what to advise sorry but I really feel for you. hope work is ok - what do you do?

I've been lurking no nrg to post! 3 night's of hourly wakes with Mr Snotbag who according to hv might be cutting BACK teeth before front are through

still at least last night I didnt need to employ the sling (buckles), which the previous two I had as even bf didnt work including ending up sleeping in it on a pile of pillows.

luckily lustral helping zonk me out in between the dramas!

at 8 months and no sign of increasing the lenght of his ability to sleep (3 hours is gold dust) looks like I'm in for the long haul doesn't it?!

we moved the bedside cot into his nursery with a view to getting him used to being in there and a bed guard on my our bed but tbh he's in with me all most of the time so aibu to put it back on and get a cheap cot (ikea £35) to keep the 'bed time in nursery' routine going but then work on getting him in his own space in the bedside cot the rest of the night .....??

I'm a paediatric physio. I just find it so hard to concentrate... Plus due to various ridiculous reasons our computer system was downgraded and we are taking 5 minutes to open a Word document, so I'm staying late to keep up. Not loving it. Plus I has to seriously restrain my facial expressions and not say exactly what I wanted to today when she was talking about how horrendous it was watching her baby withdrawing from alcohol and methodone as a newborn on the neonatal unit- I find things like that so hard- if you drink 2 litres of alcohol and day and take lots of drugs you stuff up your baby, simples, innit?! Tiredness does not help me stay rational. (the baby is in care btw, but mum sees him a lot)

Anyway, the Sleep. 3 hours is gold dust here too Clarella . I am working myself up to going cold turkey on the night feeding. End of August I think, or I won't survive Friday afternoon, bath and bedtime tomorrow if I start now while I feel desperate determined. DH is off for a week then you see.... I would just like life to be about more than arguing over loie ins and not thinking of anything bar how tired I am and how much I want to sleep...

Any news from you stitch ?

Dreaming I locummed doing some intensive developmental stuff with hideously premature babies, or rather hideously delayed toddlers as they were by the time I'd got to them, who had literally never been outside the hospital because they'd been trachied their entire short lives and their drug-fucked mothers had abandoned them. I found it hard then. Don't think I could do it and keep a civil tongue in my head now or do anything but cry in the corner. I remember one of the little boys spent disturbing amounts of time smacking himself in the head because he knew that was the only way the nurses would stop what they were doing and cuddle him. I think he was about 20 months old at the time They asked me to find a way to stop him smacking himself in the head. Erm...find him a mother? IIRC a fairly tight beanie and a large teddy helped, but fuck me it was depressing. It was like those monkey experiments where the baby monkeys clung onto the coat hangers covered in sheepskin in the absence of their real mothers.

I want DS to wake up now so I can cuddle him

DS has just refused his go-to-sleep feed, flipped himself over on my lap and fallen asleep. He has never, not once in his life, refused a feed, especially not this one.

I can only assume someone has swapped my little boy for an identical one. Maybe this one will sleep a bit more

Maybe he is going to do what dd did and suddenly overnight reduce feeding massively for no obvious reason.

Though saying that dd has now turned into a boob monster again and just wants to feed and feed if I am about. It is starting to get a bit tiresome as she will be happily playing until she sees me then burst into hysterical sobs until she gets fed.

I wish Dt the Terrible would do some sudden changes

Have to admit he's twice slept 7:30-12:30 though. Suppose that's a pretty sudden change. Mine are a bit like that with milk atm roar, I find it so frustrating as the other boy then sobs in jealousy til i feed both, and dd left out...

I'm worried. Our nanny has rung in sick, last Fri, today, and with abdo pain. She was off 6 months just before she started with us after emergency surgery for a ruptured ovarian cyst and says this feels just like that pain. Argh!!!!!

Oh, and he did a 4 hour stretch once the other night!!! I almost find the hope worse than the despair though

Don't worry Dreaming - it was a fluke one-off in the end, and he was awake pretty much hourly from 1am. Back on the boob for his final (ha! Final...what a laugh! ) feed like they'd never been parted tonight.

I'm seeing the local BFing specialist tomorrow to see if she's got any bright ideas about the cause of my repeated mastitis. I'll probe her for night weaning tips that last, but I shan't hold my breath.

Yo! elph, how was the bf person? Anything useful?

Umm... Sorry, I appear to have gone a bit street for a moment there :o

Dd has gone from one evening feed to feeding at 7pm, 11pm, 3am, 6am and 5pm on a work day, non-work days she get another few feeds in during the day.

Just when you think you've got it sorted...!

I believe that's pronounced 'shtreet'

Not a thing of any use, sadly, but as anticipated. Only suggestion she had re: the mastitis is that I produce a lot of milk so get blocked up quickly. Nothing to do but leap into a hot bath and wring out my dugs at the first signs of a blockage. Oh, the glamorous life.

And her only tip for night weaning: invest in a large bed. It doesn't last that long in the scheme of things. She co-slept with both of hers until they self-night-weaned at four. Ugh.

She was lovely, though, and we spent most of the appointment bitching about ignorant GPs.

DS spent much of last night draped over my upper back and head, when he wasn't on the boobs. It was dead comfy

Hello all, sorry to hear about bad nights.

Yay for mini-Elph on the walking front. :)

Some good, some bad here. Stitch has a cold so is waking lots again. She is taking lactose free milk in the day now and night feeds have increased slightly because of that too.

On a good note I managed to go to an evening exercise class the other night and she took a cup of milk for DH at bedtime and went to sleep without problems.

16 weeks preggo now and feeling lots of squirmy movement :)

On holiday in Dorset for a few days, it has rained loads, but still had fun at an aquarium. Dd1 held a starfish :)

Popping in. I read and lurk, but on my phone and then never get time to post.

Well, sleep is shit here. DH and I barely speaking after a shocker last night with DT the Not So Angelic up 4 times, (and he's a nightmare to re-settle, boob is the only option), DT the Terrible vomming before bed like the Bad Old Days (probably my fault for giving him a bit of pizza at tea- I thought just the sauce, no cheese, clearly wrong by the vomming that ensued) and in bed with me by 11:30 and there feeding, writhing around and generally driving me bonkers bby not sleeping... On the back of a bad week.

My attempts at sleep training appear to have stopped. He's improved, in that now he's sometimes sleeping til after 11pm for the first time in his life- Hallelula, the 9 and 10pm wakings as regular as clockwork are now less regular which is great. I've even once managed to go to bed at 9 and sleep til mignight which would never have been possible before. It's certainly not every night, but still improvement. But That Is It. No other changes. Nada. I just don't have the heart or energy for more effort yet. I'm doomed to be a sleep deprived zombie for years.

Shame she had no pearls of wisdom elph . What;s your bf plan?. I feel guilty for thinking it, but actually, I'm ready to stop. Shame my boys aren't... Even DT the ex-Angelic, who never used to mind no milk in the day, has now got jealous so every time DT the Terrible has boob, he insists on tandem feeding, no, he can't wait and he'll whinge til my ears bleed otherwise. So, stopping.... feel a bit stuck. the thought of him feeding every night, constantly til he's 4 makes me want to lie on the floor and weep, then pack a bag and leave home for a few years...

Oh Thank-God. I've found a perfect place to moan and bitch about sleep. 8 month old teether currently stretched out on disgusting sickie leather sofa and wakes every-time i go near her. Teething. Any-one else finding teething to be the culprit?

Dreaming I think I'm quietly...just quietly...starting to think about stopping BFing. DS doesn't ask for it at all during the day now, just at night. If he kept it to sociable hours I may be more inclined to continue but it's draining me. I'm just worried that if we go cold turkey on BFing altogether, which would be the only way it could possibly work I think, we'd lose the guaranteed knock-him-out sleep aid, not to mention the double mastitis I'd probably end up with again. And there is part of me that still does love BFing and the bond it gives me with my little boy

Hear Now DS is taking himself happily to his own bed at nursery like your DD when he's tired. Heads towards the bed, lies himself down, waits quietly for a back rub then drifts off. What is with that? What have we done to deserve screaming and battles?

Stitch Good to hear everything is progressing OK

Hi newbie. If teething had anything to do with DS's crap sleep, then he's been teething continuously since birth. He's almost 15 months now and only has four (and a half) teeth so I think he's mainly just a hard-wired, hard-core, non-sleeper. Some on here have noticed worsening with the onset of teeth. Can't say I ever have, though (or I'm just really bad at interpreting the signs...)

Hi there newby I do notice that dd is even worse when she is teething. She has always been a bad sleeper but is a terrible teether. The canines were the worst!

In fact related to the bfing conversation the closest I came to giving up was when dd was getting her canines through. She was up all the time, feeding like a mad thing and rather chompy with it. I ended up with a bite wound on both breasts and sore, cracked nipples. Frankly every feed was agony and it was horrifically stressful. The only thing that kept me going was that I couldn't deal with trying to get her to sleep without boob. Thankfully just has I hit breaking point she reduced feeds and started sleeping better all by magic.

In the long run I am glad I carried on the bf,even now when she is back to multiple feeds day and night I think on balance I would like to continue. But it helps that her sleep is nowhere near as bad as it was and I know that she did a sustained period of one feed a day so I maintain the conviction that the increased feeding is a developmental leap thing and she will one day return to one feed. In support of that she is now talking properly and has suddenly started drinking out of a cup (without flinging it everywhere). Cor, the excitement! :o

elph your bf ladies bed advice made me laugh somewhat hysterically as getting a larger bed was exactly what we did when we realised at 6 months that dd's sleep was not going to suddenly improve any time soon.

I know what you mean about the nursery sleeping though. Dd has recently decided that she doesn't want to do bedtime in her room at all for me so I have been feeding her to sleep on the sofa for the past 3 nights. I am aware that I would probably be kneecapped by the sleep training mafia for this but have come to the decision that if it means dd goes to sleep without 2 hours of screaming I really couldn't give a shiny shit what bloody room she is in when she does it.

Dreaming the drug mother and .Poor baby,such a shitty start of life.The pc in this country came to shocking level if even hcp is not allowed to say anything.
As for twins-sorry to hear you struggle again How old are they?

Elph good on seeing the consultant.If you drop a feed or two will your supply drop as well?She's right about the bed,DS shouts in the night wanting a feed in MY bed.I cave in and feed him,then he's back to his cot or downstairs into his high chair where he falls asleep like right now 5ish am and he shouts again,this time there's no negotiating or whole street hears him ,he comes to our bed and sucks the boob.Poor DH sometimes gets up to the loo and finds out that there's no space for him when his back because DS is spread like an eagle across king size bed.

Walking is brilliant-although you have to watch them more they get tired quicker especially when outside.

Stitch glad everything's ok :) I envy you being pg,I loved my bump

Hear do you bath DD just before bed?If so then how he ends up on the sofa?

newby2 hello and welcome.Yes,teething is a bastard.If your wee one wakes up when you approach then don't come close ;)

Clarella my DS's teeth didn't come in order.First were bottom center incissors and then side upper ones(instead of centre) so we had lovely Dracula baby for good few months.He's just cut his upper premolars where the bottom ones should be first.

Poppy how are you and how's DD?

Sorry for dropping off the thread(again)no time for a laptop during a day as DS keeps me occupied and in the night ditched the internet for cleaning the kitchen.
Everything's fine here,DS wakes up 2-3 times a night so nothing's changed.Work's fine,looking forward to it as it's my weekend-never in my life I'd thought that going to work will have me soooo excited over to you dh,mwaaaaaaaahahaha

Take care everybody :)

Bald the problem is we do the bedtime routine: bath, feed in her bed, then instead of going to sleep she screams, and screams, and screams. So mostly I give up because I can't be doing with the trauma of hours of screaming in a darkened room. I take her through to the livingroom for a change of scene and she promply snuggles up on my lap and goes straight to sleep. Every blooming time!

Last night however we skipped this and she went nicely to sleep in her bed right on time. yay!

She did then wake up every 2 hours but you win some, you lose some...right

So I settled down in front of the telly after DS was in bed tonight - I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've done this since he was born, since I usually go to bed myself, but had to make an exception for Great British Bake Off. He woke up twice, naturally, so I was on edge the whole time praying for him to stay asleep long enough to find out who won Star Baker. He did, but it wasn't as pleasurable as it should have been

And now nursery are suggesting that he might be dairy intolerant because of his swampy nappies Fuckitty fuckitty fuckitty FUCK!

He had better be the most angelic adolescent...

elph I think its something. It is not always barn door obvious, neither of mine were initially but now its easy to see they're intolerant. Dt the Terrible actually poos like a normal baby now. However I'd not have said it was abnormal before, just that he had lots of loose nappies and was prone to diarrhoea, but put it down to fruit etc. I ate some dairy chocolate yesterday and he's terrible today. Can't get him to sleep at all.... On that note, I am officially now wanting to stop bf. Like, ASAP. But how?!?! He badgers me for milk all day and all night. I'm all out of iron willpower...