'Sleep is for the Weak' for anyone with August/Sep 06 DC's

[justJAM]

GM, Cruise and anyone else with LO's born around August/September 06' - this is a support thread for when you have no clue as to why your LO is doing the exact opposite to what they were doing last week and when you are thinking WTF????
Post on here and we shall all compare notes and comfort each other!!

welcome myrtle!
it seems that mine likes more milk thru the nite too atm, not that she seems to be feeding for long, maybe more of a comfort/habit thing? who knows?........ however, it does make me doubt whether shes getting enough thru the day to sustain her overnight. wish they came with empty/full signs!! have you tried settling your lo without a feed or does he scream blue murder?!!!

Hi Tibsy,
We've tried settling him without a feed but he won't have it. I think it is a comfort/habit thing too. My HV said once he is 6 months I should try controlled crying but I also wonder if he is not getting enough during the day. I am giving him a bottle during daytime and breastfeeds at night and first thing. I gave him a breastfed earlier and he kept coming off but maybe was on for about 10mins in all then I gave him his puree and then I thought I would try him on a bottle and lo and behold he took 5oz and was looking for more so maybe he just has a prob with the breast??

Apparently your milk comes in over night and babies are programmed to feed at that time so 'suppose we can't really complain. Well, we can but it's natural for them to want to feed. Personally I think 6 months is too young for CC. My HV spouted something similar, I think it means they can tick the 'I gave them sleep advice box'. They're still so young and teeth and just getting used to the world takes its toll. I'm not convinced CC should be banded about by HV as a first stop sleep solution, surely it'll only work if your LO is waking out of habit and not for any other reason. Anyway. Enough of that rant. Myrtle, how long have you been mix feeding? Maybe your milk supply is adjusting and you're not producing as much. Jut a thought. Have you tried the weakened formula solution over night ie add more water gradually until you're totally on water, by which time they may have decided it's not worth waking up for. What about a dummy? Perhaps he just needs to suck. Anyway, bathtime beackons

am with you ginger on cc. they havent achieved object permanence yet, so i feel they must get distressed as cant reason that you can come back even if you're not in the room iyswim? havent worded it very well am afraid, but hope you get the gist.
dd gone down at 7.30, no boob, wide awake in cot, albeit tired. few tears, but i can just about cope with it cos i was virtually in the cot with her! she had lots of hugs and kisses. fingers x'd for many zzzzzzzzz's

just a quickie as ds is in cot....asleep! and I am going to play games with dd .

tibsy - did yhou join in the thread i started titled "so, why are you meant to wait till 6mths + before you do cc". it got some really excellent responses and it is well worth a trawl through if you find time .

You are doing so well with the putting down awake thing. Congrats!

Myrtle - good to see you (well, not on this thread iykwim!) I abandoned the sept thread as everyone seemed to be doing so well and i was having real sleep probs with ds who had been doing 10 hrs straight before . I found so much support here and couldn't keep up with the other one! maybe I will revisit soon when this is sorted

I cannot really do anymore posting tonight as dd is getting impatient. Really want to touch base though an dsend sleepy thoughts all our ways.
Kiera - you lucky lucky thing! I would looovvvee to be a midwife but my career is/was in education these days and I don't have time to re-train.
Gotta go now -n'nite

tibsy,glad it's not too bad,seems like you've got it under control.I've had eczema all my life,and a bit of an expert.There are a million different lotions and potions to try,and what works for one,won't work for another.Steroids seem to work for all,and i think used sparingly with flare -ups,doesn't do any harm.
My lo is 6 now ,and his eczema was really bad as a baby,then something really weird happened when he was about two,and cut all his teeth,his eczema cleared up,almost overnight.Then he finally slept through the night! Most people grow out of it at some point in their lives.He now gets the odd patch here and there,and this time of year is the worst time.Spring is round the corner,and the central heating will be going off,and layers shed,things will improve .Sorry,not really about sleep,hope it's useful anyway

Please,can someone enlighten me on the controlled crying issue,excuse my ignorance,but what is it??

Ginger - I've been mixed feeding for about a month but have just dropped the mid-morning feed now so maybe that is still adjusting.
I know what you mean about the cc, I would worry about doing it when I can't be sure if he is waking due to habit, just seems a bit mean.

Cruise - I know! Everyone on Sept thread has a baby that seems to sleep from 7pm-to 7am. I am v envious!!

DS just woken, must go feed.

Hey guys, sorry I posted and ran last time (tuesday?) my little poppit was the most grizzly one, I just did not know what to do with her and given my awful day up since 2am I was not good company at all. So DD would not sleep that night either, I took her for a drive at 9pm, always works. Not this time, I drive for 45 mins, she screamed for 20 mins then slept. I put her to bed, she woke 20 mins later. Gave her Anbesol, did not work, alreay had calpol. So slept in our bed all night with me hanging off the end. She slept on and off with me nursing her constantly until she bit me (AAAWWW).
Grumpy most of yesterday. I managed to tidy the bedroom, spotless, padded the cot out a bit as DP thinks she hates her cot, and found some baby Orajel which we got from USA.
DD was grumping badly, tears, grizzling, awful. Baby Orajel, two seconds later she could feel nothing in her mouth, and shut right up. 10 seconds later she gave me a huge grin. 1 hour later at 8pm she was asleep and slept until 2am. She had an exploding nappy which meant changing woke her until 3am, then asleep until 6am. OMG. BABY ORAGEL ROCKS - cant find it here, will have to get some sent over from USA...

Today, she is in play pen grinning grinning grinning.

She has a tooth on the top. 3rd tooth in two weeks and two days, no wonder she has been a nightmare sleeping.

Belated welcome myrtle

Redbeki - how is it going with the sleeping through, still going?

hi everyone
cruise, would love to have a look through the thread but cant sodding find it, looked under sleep and put all threads into alphabetical order, but still no joy, am i blind or just seriouly sleep deprived?

we had a not so successful night last night, went off ok, no boob again, then woke up every sleep cycle (1 hour exactly), then had a 2 hr session again of on/off crying. i stayed with her the whole time and picked her up if she got too distressed, spent half of that time in the f'ing cot, holding her. felt like giving up so many times and doing what i know would work, but i REALLY want to get this sleep thing sorted. felt evil and cruel but i knew that it wasnt out of hunger and i WAS holding her so she wasnt on her own. god, i sound like i'm trying to justify myself, feel SO guilty.
she's gone down beautifully this a.m tho, could see she was geting tired so took her up to her cot, sat on bed with her in my arms and sang, she dropped off easy as anything, ...gently lowered her into her cot, she opened her eyes, looked at me and went back off to sleep.

cruise - got it, will print it out and look at it later

redbeki - thanks for reply, hoping she'll grow out of it, am sure she will as doesn't seem too bad. i bath her every night as part of her bedtime routine and have been advised to cut that down, but surely if i'm using products in bath to hydrate skin, it's ok. any luck with aloe products? sorry to tie up thread. will shut up now...

many apologies for posting AGAIN, but cruise, don't know if you're interested, but check this out..... www.btwiki.ebrey.net then search for sleep training - gradual retreat
have looked thru your other thread, thanks for that, V interesting x

dd still asleep after 1 hr 15 mins, unheard of, don't know if a fluke or cos she's tired from last night. had to check on her tho to see she was ok!

tibsy -thanks for that website, i'll take a peek later.
two awful nights in a row now.
tues: settle by 8pm (yaaaay!)
wakes: 12.10am, 12.30am, 2am, 3.15am, 4am, 5.50am wake for day 7am

weds: settle by 8pm (yaaaay!)
wakes 12.10am
1.45am
3.45am FOR 2 HOURS!
7.10am wakes for day.

he does have another cold which is what set him off the rails at 4mths so hoping this wll pass. gonna have to do something if he continues past this cold. but what?!

Cruise, sorry you had a sh*t night...is he teething? I only say that because I have been dismissing my LO wakings as not teething, but the orajel worked SOOOOOO well, I just could not beleive how instant it was. Maybe its a fluke, maybe I just jinxed myself, and she will be awake tonight all night, but maybe not...?
Have you had any luck on getting her to sleep without BF?

theres definitely something in the air at the moment isnt there? been speaking to other mums who are going thru the same

bed by 8pm tho? whoo hoo!! very good improvement. you're getting there, even if it doesn't seem like it atm

i know with dd, it's definitely about her learning that when she does wake, (unless she's hungry, cold or needs a nappy change) she can get herself back to sleep.

speak later, chin up

pavlov, am sure it's not a fluke! be positive sister!!!
what's orajel, is it like bonjela but better?!!

Tibsy - Orajel is similar to Bonjela, but absolutely better. It has Benzocaine in it...and I put some on my gums and WOW it works.

The first time I used it, my LO was distressed so I attempted to give her boob, and her mouth was numb so she could not latch on...she became more distressed and I have since learnt to give it after feeding, or wait for 10 mins for the numbness to die down. I also use a cotton bud so as she thrashes her head around she does not get it all over her lips, which stops her from sort of blowing raspberries as she cant feel anything!!
I then lost it as its a tiny tube. YEAH its back, but almost empty.

I have seen Orajel in UK, but not Baby orajel. And not only that, its 'night'time' Baby Orajel! Not sure of the difference...stronger maybe...

hello everyone

feeling really down today. yesterday ds1 was really naughty all day and I ended up withdrawing and just ignoring him as I couldn't take any more and was so angry with him, then I felt bad for letting it get to me and being conditional with him, you're not supposed to react are you. also lo would not nap all day and I am worried that my milk supply has diminished too much since introducing the formula at night - ended up having to give lo formula at around 6pm yesterday and the day before as he seemed so hungry despite trying him repeatedly with both (limp and floppy) boobs was so scared of this happening but had to introduce night bottle for my sanity and now I'm scared I have wrecked my supply.

I'm sitting here in tears as lo has not slept more than a few minutes since he got up at 7.30am, he's clearly tired but won't sleep and I'm worried that it's 'cos he's hungry. yesterday it took him 30 mins crying to get to sleep after hardly any sleep all day and then he woke up again after 30 mins...at my wits end here.

feel so low, i'm all on my own apart from dh as we haven't lived here long and my family are far away, my mum is too ill to come and help and my sil looks down her nose at me as I don't parent her way....

got to go can't take the crying any more.

will get back and read your posts later on...

kiera - you poor poor thing. total sympathy with the bf/crying thing. You could try upping your bf's for a day or so to maintain your supply. Exhaustion and stress won't help your production so try and rest if you can. My family also live far away so I understand the isolation thing. It is hard. My dh doesn't even do much of any practical use as he works long hours and is not good at the whole baby thing. Use yor dh where poss. Also, as long as your lo is getting milk somewhere don't feel bad. he/she will not hold it against you . take lo out for a walk. maybe the air and motion will induce a nice long nap? it may clear your head too... chin up - we are all knackered!

Kiera - aw darling I am sorry you feel so so sh*t ((((((hugs)))).

Can I say, that I have been here with the milk supply. I worried and worried as my LO did exactly what yours is doing...I was then told that around 3-4 months your breasts appear that they are not supplying as much milk as they do not get so big and solid, and feel empty. It is not the case. It is in fact your milk ducts have stretched and are able to draw the milk up as your LO asks for it rather than sit and wait to be drank already there, if that makes sense (not so good at explaining it). Also, maybe your LO is having a growth spurt in which case your milk will increase in a day or so.
Bottle feeding, I do not think will reduce your own BM supply if you are regularly feeding. If you are worried, perhaps drink more water during the day? (double whatever you drink).
I know exactly how you feel. My LO is combination fed and sometimes it feels like she is suckling on nothing at all, still like this at almost 8 months sometimes.

As far as being 'conditional' with your older LO, you are a human, dealing with two children. I think you are wonderful to do this and not lose it more often.

You need to give yourself a pat on the back and remind yourself how great you are.
And know you are not alone.

Try giving LO a bath? Would that relax him?

Let me know you are ok hun...

And like you and cruise, I have little support apart from my wonderful DP. As you might or might not know, my mum passed away (4 weeks today), she was my guide. I have fallen out with my sister (long story), and no family here where I live, my friends are, mostly fecking useless and I know how hard it must be...where are you btw?

sorry - me again - and sorry to go on about teething...but maybe? ok, I will shut up now!

pavlov sooo sorry to hear about your mum . I would be lost without mine even though she lives miles away. my dh is not v supportive tbh. doesn't understand/do much hands on etc. not v. sympathetic etc. he words bloody hard to provide though. I live in SE London. You?