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!

Well, you guys suddenly make me feel positively lucky with our 5am waking with a kick and shouts of 'up! Shreddies!' in the morning.

Good luck Elph It really my not be as bad as you imagine. DD was ridiculously easy to wean in the end, I was amazed. I also don't think she was really drinking that much by then and was mostly comfort sucking as I barely engorged after stopping.

Bald dd is only 19 months but I think it would be stretching things to say we are really training her. We just have her bare bummed while she is at home now with a potty in the room and a seat on the toilet for her to use. We are only doing it because she seems so ready (knows when she is weeing and pooing and knows that it goes in the toilet), she also hates nappies, but we aren't pushing it at all as it is still really young I think. So far we have had one wee in the potty and one on the floor so moderate success.

I am sure the pregnancy will be super boring and uneventful and you will practically sneeze the baby out right on time and in the setting of your choice :o

Oh! We have just had an offer accepted on a flat with a really lovely garden. I am soooooo excited, though we are 1st timers so I have no idea at all what I'm doing. Just appointed a solicitor and feel terribly grown up :o

Unfortunately, morning one of no BF went as anticipated. DS was up at 4am expecting his hour of boob, followed by wailing interspersed with fitful sleep for the next three hours when it wasn't forthcoming. He was still sore at me when I left. He's now been without BF for longer than he's ever been in his life. Since the majority of women don't even BF for 17 days, much less 17 months, I don't know why I feel guilty, but I do

In other news, Aunt Flow is back for the first time since August 2011. Can't say she's been missed

Oh dear.Are you getting dirty looks from DS Elph ? My last AF befoer I got pregnant was also in August 2011.I reckon our kids must be not far between?DS was born on 7th of June.He was supposed to be a May baby but decided that he didn't want to.

Don't feel guilty,you gave him the best possible start,the time has come to move on.

Aye,Hear,I didn't have it difficult with DS but your post made me giggle-I imagined myself cocking up my leg and pinging the baby out

Sore boobs and nausesous sometimes but overall not too bad.I had one case of morning sickness when DS came with me to the loo and lokked at me surprised why I've got my head down the toilet instead of my arse and then put the lid on my head.Cheers son,you're very caring not

Still up at the crack demanding boob here. Dreaming how long did yours take before they stopped asking?? We're on day four here and he's still miserable. On the plus side, no mastitis!

Bald DS was 20 May. My waters broke on his due date so he had every intention of being punctual but didn't take into account the fact that his head was far too big for my pelvis.

Anything on the flat purchase Hear? If it's anything like the two places we've bought, it'll take a loooooong time...

Good news on the mastitis Elph. Have you tried offering him a bottle of milk or something to eat when he is awake instead of the boob? Though judging by the lack of mastitis it seems he wasn't really feeding loads anyway so maybe this wouldn't help at all. Also might just stretch the whole waking business out even more....ok so that was a crap idea, I admit it! :o

DD has adjusted to the clocks going back when it comes to bedtime but still refuses to budge on the 5am wake up. I was rather hoping it would have slipped back to 6am by now but no luck. Ho hum.

Flat purchase is chugging along. It has tenants in at the moment who are due to move out on the 14 February so I am hoping we will be in asap after that. So much bloody paperwork though!

DS Does Not Do Bottles and any proffered cup of milk or water gets smacked away. I suspect food would get the same treatment. He doesn't do dummies or suck his thumb either so I think we can reasonably assume it's almost entirely a comfort thing, hence the ongoing battle. He has found one fairly pleasant substitute, though - for wake-ups before 4am, he wraps his arms around my neck and plunges his fingers into my hair and gives me a gentle head rub until he drifts off. That I can cope with. Sometimes just holding my hair is enough for him. Naturally, however, it is yet another night-soothing strategy I cannot share with DH whose head is entirely clean-shaven

I'm guessing flats are less faff than a house when it comes to conveyancing in that there's not land/boundaries/common driveways/dodgy extensions etc that need thrashing out. On the other hand, I'm sure solicitors have found several standard loopholes to ensure they make just as much money off people buying flats as those buying houses. Me? Cynical? Nah...

Don't you just love the fireworks around Bonfire Night? How many times so far have you wanted to lean out the window and shout, 'WAKE UP MY FUCKING CHILD AND THE NEXT ONE YOU LET OFF'S GOING UP YOUR ARSE!'

Hi can I join?! I have a 9mo dd who does not sleep!! Well, at night anyway, she is surprisingly good at naps at the moment but that's quite a recent thing. Am completely exhausted and it sounds like you are too!! Would be nice to have some people to compare notes and reassurance with :-) How old are your DC?

I think we need to add 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here' to 'Ride the mo fo out'.

Hi Turtles. Ours are all 17 months plus. This thread started when ours were all the same age as yours. They're still not sleeping, I'm afraid, so all we can offer is condolence and sympathy, but not a jot of hope. We're the grim corner of miseries whose babies have yet to 'grow out of it', take to sleep training or adhere to any of the general rules that are meant to apply to make babies/toddlers sleep. I think we all may have emerged from the relentless awake every 1-2 hours from birth-til-past-one-year phase now I've jinxed us but five hours straight is still a cause for celebration.

What's your sleep story?

To be fair dd is now 19 monthsmonths now and sleeps pretty well by my standards (I just keep hanging around for the company really :o ), of course my standards are somewhat lower then many. Dd generally now goes to bed between 7-8, sleeps in her bed till around 12ish, then wakes and comes to our bed and on a good night sleeps till 6. This is a sort of sleeping miracle I never thought would happen a few months ago.

The other day a friend of mine was telling me how exhausted she was as her almost 1 year old was waking at 2am and then, shock horror, going straight back to sleep till 7. I think I might of struggled to look sympathetic

Anyway, welcome to the thread turtles , it'll all be fine. Really it will. [Ernest and reassuring face]

Yes, I suppose things definitely are better - asleep around 7:30 here in his cot, then awake once more anywhere between 10pm and 2am, then into bed with me until he starts thrashing wildly from just before 5am. Not really asking for boob anymore, thank goodness. The odd passing scrabble at the neck of my pyjama top for old times' sake but I think we're officially no longer breastfeeding.

Honestly, Hear I think we just have low standards when it comes to 'good' sleep after those endless months of zombie-like horror

What do you suppose Dreaming is up to? She's gone quiet.

Here, here, just checking in.

Don't worry ladies, no more hope here. I have just been pleasantly distracted by dd, chest infection (v v poorly child with it, now well on the mend) Dt1, mild croup that's not mild enough for me, chest sleeping, when he will at all, general resumption of vomiting in the bed, Dt2, bad cold, woke for two night feeds for a week

I was a broken woman. Now dd and Dt2 sleeping again. Just The Horror being his usual self. Though, to be fair, even he is improving. Goes to bed 7-7:30, wakes between 9-11pm. Sometimes I can get him back to sleep in his travel cot, if its more like 11, I often can't be arsed to even try, so he sleeps with me from then. If not, by 12 latest. Then he wakes again sometimes, but sometimes goes through til 5am. Then that's it. Demands sleeping bag off, milk, in a bottle no less, demands books.

He still scrabbles at me for milk elph you've done fantastically to boob wean. Well done you :)

Hello hear, yes stick around. Elph and i will get lonely otherwise!! (& you bald)

Hi, can I join? Plenty of misery over here!

A bit of background info:
DD is 11m, she is EBF and we co-sleep (through necessity rather than wanting to).
I live in France so the above makes me a bit of a weirdo unconventional by French standards.

We have just hit another bad patch. DD does a 3 hour stretch then wakes about every hour. There has been extensive boobing so I'm hoping it's a growth spurt and we'll return to our crap but less torturous routine soon.

Oh, I was also wondering if those of you who BF have noticed any relationship between your caffeine consumption and babies sleep? I've been trying to cut out caffeine to see if it makes any difference but So far haven't managed more than a day before cracking and having a coffee! Pathetic, I know.

Congrats to baldhedgehog on your pregnancy, and hearmyroar on your flat!

We're all BFers here Jaques. I went from no caff to gradually increasing intake from the time DS was about 6mo. No change for better or worse with his godawful sleep, so by the end I was having the necessary caffeine whenever it was called for. Suffice it to say, now that we've stopped boob, I'm BFFs with my Gaggia.

Poor Dreaming in the plague house. Daub a white cross on the door and order pizza.

I didn't drink caffeine, sorry. Partly as i was worried it would affect the dts, partly as my bladder is hopeless, I always need a wee, and worse with caffeine- tmi, sorry!! No idea. But welcome to the thread, and may you be one of those whose time here is brief...

X posts, thanks elph though the contagion is on its way out. A seamless transition from the blasted hand foot and mouth into the Chest Season, natch.

Thank you for the welcome dreaming, sorry to hear you've got the lurgey. I know what you mean about the bladder. Since having DD I'm very careful to have a wee before leaving the house. I'm drinking one cup of tea and one coffee a day on average. Not sure that's enough to do anything....
I'm looking forward to stopping BFing partly for the freedom of eating and drinking whatever I like Elba. Do you miss it at all?

What does riding the mo fo mean BTW?

My god Jacques ! A whole day without caffeine! I'd never make it past breakfast

So, first rule of bad sleep club: never, ever mention how well your DC is sleeping. They will invariably choose that very same night to start teething, develop a persistant cough and spend the night wriggling around like they have fire ants in their sleepsuit.

Jacques Funny you should ask as 'ride the mo fo out' cropped up, as it should happen, during a hideous coughing disease DS had several months ago. I'd sought help on one of the other boards and reported back here that I had been advised to just, 'ride the mo of out?' Hear quite deftly made the association to our non-sleepers. It's a horrible phase and there's nothing to do but ride the mo fo out!

Do I miss BFing? Sort of yes, as I kind of would like to have made it to 2 years or maybe even let him self-wean, but I don't miss his one remaining feed which usually happened around three or four am. That was harsh. I do NOT miss the repeated mastitis. He's also getting more words on an almost daily basis and I'm very relieved we're not looking down the barrel of him going, 'Boobie!' in a garden centre or something and expecting me to flop one out!

And you're not wrong, Hear. After saying on here that on the whole things were better, how often was he awake last night? Every. Two. Hours.

Snap. "Dt2 and dd are.sleeping well again" Boom! Two night bottles for Dt2 last night (impeccable by dd though :))

Dt The Terrible has already been up once and nearly coughed himself sick. I am making DH listen to his chest again tomorrow. Give them some drugs!!! Fix him! make that more drugs, being currently on domperidone 4ml 3-4x daily, ranitidine 2.5ml twice daily, sytron 2.5ml three x daily.

elph my friend bf to three years. She described her dd as once flopping one out and announcing 'want boobies' while she was holding her, in the queue, at an RSPB place. She said luckily, being there, she was the wrong kind of bird to attract interest.

Jacques does your DC have food intolerances? Just interested as I think it is a common theme on this thread. My dd has problems with dairy and oats and isn't great with soya. I think this has been at the root of her sleep problems to he honest and why sleep trading has never really worked for us

Sleep trading? ... That should have been training.

Hello all,
I just bought a watch that lights up so I can finally keep track properly of what time DD wakes up. Last night wasn't too bad, three wake ups. Ooh, did I just break the first rule!

I'm not aware of any food intolerances in LO hearmyroar.

We're off for a walk now to make the most of the nice autumn weather before it gets too cold and dark.

How's your LO today dreaming?

He is a coughing thug. He got dd in a headlock and pulled her hair, pushed Dt2 over and kicked him because he wanted to wear the top I was about to put on Dt2 and has generally been driving me around the twist. Argh! I say no and give attention to the injured party, but he's such a menace. Harder work than my other two put together. Sigh. Any suggestions welcome! Oh, and DH reckons his chest is ok, grotty but not a chest infection or anything treatable, so i expect another night of disturbance through coughing and high risk vomit status.

He was finally, eventually diagnosed as having gastro oesophageal reflux, and dairy, soya and egg intolerant at 15 months, any sleep improvements have been since he's been more settled. I do think for those really horrific sleepers who just don't improve with age there's Something Up.