new 'SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK' thread

[tibsy]

hi ladies, the other one ran out of space, so if no one else starts a new thread, here it is....

hi everyone,
my dd slept till 3am, then fell back asleep after a feed. I on the other hand lay wide awake, tossing and turning for a few hours listening out to see if she'd wake up again!! When she did (just as i was finally drifting off to sleep of course!), i gave her a quick feed and put her down next to me in bed. We both fell asleep and woke up at 9.30. So a better night all in all...although i thought co-sleeping was meant to be if the BABY couldn't sleep, not the parent, lol!!! She is such a good girl, it seems to be me causing all the problems now!!!

Kate that sounds like a very good night for such a small baby. You just need to find a way now of switching your mind off at the drop of a hat, it takes a while but you'll learn to be asleep in a few minutes when you have the chance!
Cruise...at least you know ds can go to sleep by himself and they're all a mystery!

Bampa, re post date paranoia. All the time.

Re: eczema treatments. Have had loads of stuff from the DR. Only thing keeping it under control is Hydrocortisone with Canesten (we've got mostly sebhoric eczema here with some atopic in the classic joint areas.) I don't like using it but I stop for a day and it's back again. She also had the most hideous cradle cap which Hyd & Can cleared up in one go. As an emollient I bought some natural shea butter from the (Shea butter cottage) but it's very gluppy so I sometimes use dermol and we use balneum in the bath. We were prescribed so many things which were ineffective but I think, having talked to various people, it's not a one size fits all policy with eczema, it's a bit of trial and error. I'm currently using all the redundant creams on me!

Cruise I KNEW you'd be off before me. Am I the only one left from the original thread that united us all?

hi all!
i never lost this thread, i just have SUSSED it: i have found a way to make my ds sleep through the night, and it didnt involve cc.....
sorry, thats a poor joke, i did lose the thread when the last one got full. no. my darling, darling boy is waking every 2 hrs....hey, swizzler, mines 5 mths too...and i seem to have been putting his grumpiness down to either teething or the excema behind his ears for the last month at least. and no signs of the former, except dribbling and constant grumbling.
yeah, hes still waking every 2 hrs, not necessarily for feeds, just for rocking and ssshing and being upright until he's asleep. early on in the night i can put him back on his mattress, but after about 2 or 3 he only will sleep curled up with me, face to face. and last two nights hes had an hour or so up and wide awake in the middle of it.
am being better and more adamant about prioritising him napping: going to bed with him to make him sleep etc, and his mood is really improving. but his night sleep is still bad.
we are saying we are going to move him into his own room in april, when he's 6 mths. and in the middle of the night i say we will do cc too, but really, i dont know if i could, or if i think its ok. am worried about being up all night when hes in his own room, that it might be even worse than it is now, but maybe it will be better...he always wakes up when we come to bed and hes such a light sleeper.
like some of the rest of you, my obsession with sleep is making it worse. sometimes it takes me an hour to get myself back off to sleep cos im feeling so angry and irate and sometimes i just think i might as well get up and not even bother trying to rest!
anyway...nice to find you again!
xxx

ooh and good news to those of us who have early risers....the clocks change on sat night, so my ds will be getting up between 6.30 and 7.30 rather than 5.30 and 6.30! and i dont even have to do anything.
now thats worth a glass of cabernet savignon....

GN believe me, i am far from ready to leave this thread . ds woke repeatedly on tues night, had two poos and napped appallingly all day yesterday. you are not about to be abandoned by a fellow founder of 'SIFTW'. funny, i was thinking that it was my original thread two months ago that led to the original SIFTW thread and look how we have grown! don't know whether to be happy or sad about it! progress is slow but i keep kidding...sorry telling myself that we must surely be making progress!

maebee - did not make any dramatic difference to ds's sleep when we put him in his own room at 4.5 mths. but it did improve mine ! . i was waking at every grunt and murmer but now i'm oblivious to it. i hadnt thought about the clock thing but that is great!!! yaaaay!

i think it might make a difference to my sleep too, cos i stiffen at his every whimper or wiggle....and theres a fair few, especially right now when he tosses and turns!
did it not feel like a real drag actually having to get out of bed though?
i feel so chuffed about the clocks too! i am almost smug about it, as if it was all my idea in the first place!

maebee - it still is a pain as i get up 1 - 6 times per nite for him but i still sleep better inbetween times.

Bampa - yes I do! I think because I can't socialise with work people it has been so nice to meet other Mums and meet some new friends, I know what you mean about the first date thing - you kind of plan what safe subjects you can talk about that will let you get to know each other a bit.

Welcome back Cruise or should that be .

I think I have made a grave mistake - DD liked the apple puree so much that when she was still hungry I gave her more of that instead of some carrot. Hope she does not get tummy ache!

ruth - I don't think it will matter about the apple! Apple is not acidic so providing she didn't over fill herself she should be fine . Ta for the welcome back but I never left - just couldn't keep up! This has to be the most popular (or at least most visited ) thread on MN?!

hi all, well after a bloody horrid day, dd unwell and VERY shouty with it, she conked out at 6.15pm so god knows what tonight will bring
cruise - hope you enjoyed your visit with your mum. and dd still a mystery to me.
maebee - welcome back!! my lo also likes being curled up face to face with me, which is lovely, but sometimes, i get so bloody uncomfortable lay on my side. she also has to be touching me, my face, holding my hand, or, more often than not, her fingers in my mouth. whats that all about?

Tibsy, I could have written that last one myself. DD has to hold hands, poke eyes, have fingers in my mouth. Settles her but doesn't doo much for me neither does sleeping on my side without moving for the duration.

She's got a right snotty cold and has been whining all day. Conked out now but who knows what tonight will bring.......... Was going to try her in her own room tonight but seems pointless if she's poorly and about to have me up all night.

Good luck to all those willing for a sleep filled weekend.

Ruth, I was worried that I'd give DD stomach ache too and I also paniced that I'd constipated her but given that she's hardly eating anything I think I was just flapping. She WILL NOT open her mouth for a spoon unless I give her a loaded spoon to do it herself so it is prooving a very messy and very unscientific approach to feeding!

Night night all

evening all. Ds went to bed easily enough tonight. Been at grandparents this afternoon so a very tired boy. He also pokes my eyes, touches my face and puts his fingers in my mouth when he's going to sleep. Must be a comfort thing.
Have a little tale for you (very sad) but perhaps might make our sleepless nights seem a little less important.
I talked to an old friend today who tragically lost her teenage son in a car accident in august. She asked how i was and how ds was doing. I of course dropped into the usual breakdown of how lovely he is but he's still not sleeping and he's in and out of our bed and is that right or is it 'wrong' and so on. Her response was that looking back it's the night time cuddles in the dark that she cherishes when she thinks about john not what a good boy he was for sleeping through the night. I was lost for words and of course she's absolutely right. I know sleep and quality of life is important but eventually one day are lo's are going to be all grown up and these (sleepless) years will be a fond but distant memory

Bampa - so true about your friend, and very sad. Anything like this makes me very emotional now.

Sorry Cruisemum I got you muddled up with someone else (maebea I think) - this thread is too fast for my addled brain! Nice to chat to you tho!

I agree Bampa, it brought a lump to my throat and if DD comes into our bed tonight I'll give her an extra cuddle. The pain of loosing a child is unthinkable so many sympathies to your friend. Perhaps you can thank her for reminding me how important my lovely girl is.

I will of course tell her. It certainly gave me a moment of clarity that i'm sure will fade as the tiredness takes over but for tonight we'll all have a cuddle and be happy

ditto many sympathies for you poor friend.

morning!
sympathies from here too, the dread of loss fills me with both fear and a desire to hold my boy tight. i was thinking, during the going-to-bed feed (seems to be my time for "profound" thoughts!) if i had to choose between always having to sleep with my baby, or having never had...say, he was in a cot from the beginning...i would so choose the first!
we had an ok night, up 3 times, once for 30 mins, but slept til 6.30 which is a good un for us. a wise friend once said that if morning had a 6 in it, it was ok, and i really find that. i am unbearably cross if im up at 5.40, but 20 to 6 i can cope with.
cant wait til those clocks do their magic thing on sunday morning!
hope you all slept ok.
xx

morning maebee. Our night was a bit hit and miss. went down at 7 until 1.30 but then was up until nearly 3! (Think he had a sore tummy/wind) then slept until 6.50 (agree on the 6 thing!)
NCSS arrived in the post this morning and it looks interesting. Only problem now is finding the time to read it!

bampa - low lights during bedtime feed is great time for reading NCSS!

gn - out of curiosity, how are your nights?

morning all, my night was crappola so went back to bed with dd this a.m. dp was still there!
lost track of how many times she woke but after reading your post bampa, it all seems rather insignificant. so for your friends loss, i cant even begin to imagine or indeed want to imagine what that must be like.

I know tibsy. every parents worst nightmare. Feel bad for making you all sad though. NCSS arrived this morning and i've been reading it furiously while ds has his morning nap. Here's hoping i'm one of those mummies emailing their success story in a few weeks time

Well, looks lke success may have been short-lived. Anothe long stretch last night till 10pm, but then 1-2 hr wakings for a snack. Must try to get him to feed more at 1pm as that seems to help.

Did you see the news story about additives in Calpol? Must check tyo see which medicines (if any) are best from the additives point of view.