New SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK thread - are we still here?

[PavlovtheCatthatgottheCremeEgg]

Another thread. My didn't we get full quickly! night sleeping good. Naps...not even 5 mins so far today...

Tibsy, my DD is the same age as Cruise's 7 months. And as you know she's far from it. I was wondering about the feeding too because I wanted to resist feeding at night but she seems to take really big feeds at night I don't want to deny her if she is hungry. Her solid intake is a bit hit and miss and I've no idea if she's getting enough. She has 3 meals a day and bf on demand but has definately cut her milk down. I think we had about 4 feeds yesterday of which two were pretty good long feeds and the other two shorter. I wonder if she's too distracted in the day.

ginger, dd has really cut down on her bfs too. i always make sure i give her a bf 1st thing, then brekkie. she has as many as she wants then between lunch, mostly short. i think shes probably using them as a 'drink' rather than food. thats what the shorter feeds are i believe? then lunch then feeds again as and when, then dinner then feed before bed.
she never seems to drink much before bedtime tho and i'm wondering if its cos shes too full after dinner.
last night, the 11pm feed was the most i've seen her take for a long time, both sides. usually, its one boob per feed

i'm not doing blw, although, must be honest, i wish i'd committed myself to it. just a bit TOO neurotic about intake next time tho.
atm, i'm giving her our food pureed (finally ditched the jars!!) but adding tiny pasta shapes to bulk it up. i also offer her our food 'whole' which she takes quite well. should probably offer it the other way around, now i think of it. its just she's so wee, i want to feed her up. god, i'm turning into my mother!!

mothering is such an inexact science/art isn't it? i feel like i'm just guessing what's going on all the time. like ds has been really fussy and refusing feeds a lot in the day lately, and even sometimes at night. yesterday he fed at 4am and then not again until 1.30 in the afternoon. i can't understand it. everytime i put him to the breast he'd just cry. (can i blame it on the teeth again?) also i've had millions of scratch marks all over my chest and breasts where he's been fighting me. i tried to cut his nails really short today and ended up nicking his thumb, poor guy.
anyway, my boobs are killing me, they are either completely depleted becuase he's been feeding ravenously, or they're completely engorged because he refuses to eat.
i've got him in the sling at the moment, and he is asleep but keeps making sucking/slurping noises. i dont' even know if it means he's wanting to eat or if he will eat. it's too confusing lately. sometimes i think he's hungry, but he gets too panicked about eating for some reason.

chin up amber, we're all in this motherhood guilt/cluelessness malarkey together and i've been thru it once already, so should have a bloody clue
you're doing a fab job. hows your letdown reflex? just wondering, have you tried expressing a little before offering the boob so the milk is already flowing. only ask, cos i needed to do that with dd a few times as she got impatient if it didnt come out as fast as she liked. hope you dont mind me suggesting it, for all i know, you're spurting for britain!

ooohh, just reread the panicked bit at the end, may be that you ARE spurting for britain and its coming out so fast he cant drink it quick enough.
sorry amber, rambling now, just trying to cover all the bases so as not to offend

in fact i AM spurting for britain i think. still. after nearly 4 months my breasts just haven't calmed down. i still have wet bras, wet tshirts etc. i think it might be due to ds's erratic eating that they haven't settled down though ... one minute he's telling them to produce more, then to hold off. they don't know what he's up to i've still tried expressing a bit off in case its too full but i don't even think its that. often if i just put him anywhere near the breast he cries!
this morning he was funny, if you held him upright, he would be smiling and happy. if you tried to do any other position/put him down/feed him/sling him/etc. he would absolutely scream. but as soon as you held him upright again, happy as anything.

tibsy, my ds is 9 mths in a week and this is his routine:

6am - breastfeed

9am - breakfast ( usually half weetabix with cow's milk)

12 - 12.30 - lunch ( half stage 2 jar and half jar fruit and approx 5-6 oz formula)

5pm - dinner( same as above but no milk)

6.30pm - breastfeed

8.45pm - approx 6-8 oz formula and bed.

He seems fine on this and not lost any weight ( he's always been little)

ps. i don't get offended easily so don't worry tibs!

i really want to try blw once we hit the 6 months mark, but am worried that dh might not be too impressed by this method. although he won't be home for ds's meals mostly apart from the weekend, so guess its really up to me for the most part anyway.

amber, he's not windy is he? no signs of reflux? i'm sure you thought of all the possible options.
dd gets like this still occasionally tho, and jsut wants to be held upright, thats cos shes a nosy minx tho!!

ami thanks for that. think dd is eating comparable amounts of the food. tried her on the stage 2 jars tho and she refused the 'lumps' i find that very strange as she'll eat whole bits of veg, fruit etc, as well as biscuits looks like your lo taking more milk than dd tho maybe i should hold back on the meals and promote the milk more?

actually ami, just checked and dd's probably eating half that amount. would eat 1 jar of main and 1 jar of pud (stage 1) throughout the day. she is a month younger tho

amber dp very rarely home for mealtimes with us either. last night was the first time in ages. i'd go for it!!!

god, i really must get dressed, dd still sleeping and i'm on here instead of being productive

Amber, mine has gone through periods like that. In fact last night she screamed when I went to lay her down. I know it sems like the old excuse but I do think teeth play a part because she seemed in some discomfort when pressure was put on her head. She is also off her food both boob and solid when she's teething and I've read that they find it quite uncomfortable when teething.

Tibs, I gave up BLW because I too became neurotic and wanted to feed her up in the vain hope she'd sleep. Also, I was a bit lost for what to feed her because we're avoiding dairy again and now tomatoes so it's become really difficult to find the right balance. I think it's a great idea and Amber my DH was a bit about BLW to begin with but it makes a lot of sense. I found a lot of pressure to feed mush tho and I have given in. She goes get finger food tho and is much happier feeding herself.

i found BLW didn't really suit ds - he thinks it's a game and doesn't really eat much. ( and has also choked and vomited several times) He does like ricecakes though.

tibsy - he's been eating like this for the last few weeks so i guess give it time. Also if they don't get milk at night - they will inevitably eat more in the day to make up for it.

I think it's too easy to get really stressed out by what they are drinking/eating etc. just go with the flow i say.

tibs - i think its that he's a nosy minx. and the rest....

Hi all - DS woke up LOADS until about 1am and then slept until nearly 7am. Prefer it that way round tbh rather than him sleeping soundly until midnight and then starting the party. I still bf on demand and taking the blw route, so not a hugely structured routine. Breakfast is fairly constant, about 30 mins to an hour after he wakes up, then lunch is whenever I'm eating. I've recently introduced 'tea' at about 4.30/5.00pm, but it mostly gets thrown around as he's pretty tired at this time of day. I try and get him to nap after breakfast and after lunch, durations vary, and usually he feeds to sleep or sleeps in the buggy when we're out (if moving). I'm not convinced that the waking is to do with hunger as when I bf him in the night I quite often don't feel him swallowing much, just hanging out on the boob for comfort and then he's ready to suck his thumb and go back into his cot.

Ginger and tibs.I wasn't sure about BLW at all at first,but after a month of trying,she's mastered the art,and now has whole pieces of pretty much everything,and it is so much easier.I want to tell everyone I meet about it,please give it another go .They love it,and due to the amount that comes out,she must be getting enough.It's very messy though but they get the hang of it in a few weeks.
I wish I weaned my other two this way.

thanks redbeki, it does sound like it takes some perseverance - you can't expect them to get it straight away. i'm so keen to try though. still 2 months away for me though.

Hi All

Have been off for weeks for various reasons, but have just found a minute to have a quick glance over what is going on.

Cruisemum - I am so pleased your LO responded so well, do you feel like a different person? I know I did!

I just need to crack the waking 10 minutes after I go to bed thing and all will be well here (for at least one night anyway!)

Hope everyone is ok, lots of sleepy thoughts!

Haven't had a chance to post for a few days, so there's a lot to read through!

Inhouse: CAT me if you want me to post the Oragel.

Amber: yay for naps! DS also did 2 1hr+ naps today, though one was in bed with me (I was knackered!). Re teethgin, DS was showing signs from just over 2 months and his first tooth has just come through. He was def in pain before. Try a bit of teething gel and see if it helps.

Food: I started on puree (at 5 1/2 months) but now doing more and more finger foods as DS loves them (esp bread), Tried bread and hummus today and he was v impressed . I tend to do porridge for breakfast, veg/protein for lunch and have just started occasionally giving tea. Meant to try macaroni cheese today but didn't get back in time to make it - this food malarkey doesn't suit a disorganised mum!

Oh, and sleep has been all over the place - anywhere between 1 and 2.5 hours between wakings. No pattern than I can see. Think anotehr tooth is coming as he can't bear for me to touch his gums.

Have a great weekend all and sorry for the long post!

ha all - redbeki - yes i do feel like a different woman!!! i feel human again . and ds is even happier than he was before. he seems excited by everything now so he obviously needed the sleep as much as i did! naps are all over teh place so that is a bit confusing but all in all - i am a happy mummy.

doh - stupid me..... i meant ruth, not redbeki. serve me right for being a mn tart!

hey everyone

ok whats blw i havent a clue all these fancy ways new ways of just saying sleep training (if thats what it is sorry if its not)

been a good 2 days here he's went dwn by himself although i still feel shattered most of the time i think am jumpin into bed v early tonight

so not to start complaining again (ok i am) but isnt it awful when babies wake up so early lol am never happy am i

anyway have a good night everyone

take care

bridget, BLW is baby led weaning where basically you give your lo food and they get on with it. No puree no spoon.

Redbeki, my DD did get it and still prefers finger food but I was a bit worried about what she was getting because we're not eating fish, dairy, or tomatoes at the mo so it felt a bit limiting. She struggled with stuff covered in glupe i.e pasta and small foods like chick peas and lentils. I just ran out of ideas for what she could eat bar bread, fruit and veg and lumps of meat and wanted her to experience other flavours. I would prefer to wean her that way but I'm not sure I could cope giving her the chicken curry to eat herself oh the mess, I'm having palpatations just thinking about it. I always give her finger foods after her mush in fact she has a banquet laid before her. (she loves loves loves mini corn and pears)

Ahh, nice to see some familiar faces (!) returning to the thread although I'm sure you'd rather not be here.

Night night all

has everyone gone? boo My dh away n amsterdam on stag weekend. ds asleep and i'm on the gin
i did BLW but without knowing that it had a name/theory. ds just hated puree and wouldn't let you spoon feed him anyhting (apart from pear..only exception to the rule) so I ended up giving him pieces of fruit/veg etc.
Ds also loves hummous swizz. he likes all strong flavours even marmite! (yuk)
anyway i'm rambling due to lack of anyone to talk to. hope you all get some zzzzzzzzzz x