The great non-sleepers, newborn and beyond.

[NinaMarieP]

Thread number four (I think).

Welcome to all past posters and any new ones who are also up at all hours!

@Dryheave how are you both today? Are you still in hospital?

So that's the night shift done and now onto the nap battle. This really wasn't how I pictured motherhood. I need to get out of the house!!!

@WhoAteAllthePercyPigs I understand how you feel. When I found out DD had to wear a harness I cried and cried thinking I had failed her! I want to reassure you that the harness doesn't hurt babies at all, it just goes on underneath their clothes.

Each hospital has a different view on how strict to be with the harness. My hospital is very strict, we aren't allowed to remove the harness and will have to go every week to that DD for a bath, harness removal and for her to be measured.

They have said that time period for the harness will be 4-6 weeks but not to get upset if it's a bit longer. We will have another ultrasound towards the end if that time to see if she needs to extend the treatment.

The harness is made of fabric, I have found it much easier to hold DD upright since it was put on. And nappy changes are easier as her legs are already held up - no more feet being dipped in poo.

Initially we had a scan when DD was around a week old, but they doctor who scanned her said this had been done too early as she was 5 weeks prem so therefore not actually there yet and it was too early to tell.

This reply has turned into an epic essay which jumps around. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like. The important thing to remember is that our babies won't remember this time in the harness but we are setting them up for the rest of their lives.

@Jellybean I feel your pain!!!

@AMagdalena why won't they just nap?! Getting really frustrated as the sling doesn't bring instant sleep now,oh no I have to do a full workout, squats and everything. And then rest my hand over his eyes so he stops looking around. And I can't often sit down with him asleep in sling as that wakes him. And I can't do anything productive as that also wakes him. So I'm just stood swaying in the hall on my phone. Going for a walk doesn't always bring sleep and people give you funny looks if you start doing squats in the middle of town... 😳

@Jellybean I have to do squats as well! More often than not DD wants the boob after a while as well and then I have to rock her again...It really puts me off going out for longer than a couple of hours because I know she will do her 33mins in the pram and have a meltdown when we get back home as she's overtired.
She's just so ridiculously curious. Wants to take it all in.

@AMagdalena I've said it once and I will say it again, I have the DS version of your DD! Feel exactly the same about going out anywhere!

@Jellybean They do sound exactly the same!
I wish I could just not care and go out for longer, but usually, I feel unable to deal with any extracurricular meltdowns thanks to sleep deprivation.
A work colleague (I know I should probably stop talking to this one) recently told me her lovely DD never makes a peep in her pram and is soooo 'chilked'. That was after I'd told her my DD only tolerates being confined for a while and then wants to be held or entertained (still a huge improvement).
Just makes me feel a bit shitty.
The constant nap battles are wearing me out.

@theotherendofthesockportal how are you getting on with the harness today?

@Whoateallthepercypigs It really is hard to get my head around the whole adjusted age thing. I find it odd to think he is developmentally 2.5 weeks only as surely the other three weeks exposure to the outside world would have made a difference, but I was told that he still had lots of development and catching up to do for the three weeks he was early. Odd but real!

@GingerHanna I don't think she is really bothered by the harness, which I am so relieved about. We have been dealing with constipation today. How my life has changed! Hope you are having a good day?

I think my DD is going through a growth spurt. God help me.
I'm just a boob.

Isn’t it amazing how many of your conversations are dominated by poo? 💩

We had a trip to the shops to buy size 62 vests! He’s gone from size 44 to 62 in less than six weeks! Discovered the wonders of C&A and dropped a good amount of cash on clothes for him in there. It will be my go to from now on?

Now trying to feed him up to make up for the missed volume whilst we were out (he sleeps deep when we are out so hard to get him to feed well). Otherwise we will pay for it tonight!

@AMagdelana - I just realised this afternoon that that is why Joseph had been cluster feeding this week. Yesterday the size 56 fitted. Today they do not!

DS has his third lot of injections today and we’re swinging between feeding and inconsolable crying. Looking at the time for when I can give him some more Calpol.

We've had another poo 💩 today.
And by 'we' I mean ds
And by 'poo' I mean chicken korma, without the chicken 🤢

DS has gone back to only daytime napping while being held and springing awake as soon as being put down. He also only has cat naps. Being awake a lot during the day doesn’t make him sleep more at night either.

I went to baby sensory today and a mother with a 7 week old had a baby that only fed at 1am and 6am while I am still going strong at one hour wake ups with one 2 hour at 13 weeks. Arghhhh!

Evening all. Thanks for having me! Don't want to freak any of you newborn mums out but my son is 7 months next week and his sleep has been...well...like a newborn? I did get about 8 weeks of brilliant, 10 hour all night sleeps before we descended into the merry hell at 4.5 months. So it hasn't all been bad! Shame he forgot how to sleep just in time for me to go 'back to work'. That now mainly involves me cowering, unwashed, over my laptop in the spare room, trying to come up with plausible excuses as to why I can't attend the office. Again.
Anyone else got an older baby pretending to be a newborn?

@Lovingtyrells Sounds like my DD!

@6months 18 week old on my lap. A total newborn. I am not convinced her sleep has ever been good enough to be affected by any regression.
Some days I don't bother going out exhausted from erratic sleep, nap battles and having to hold her all the time.

@AMagdalena mine is 3 weeks old and hasn’t stopped feeding... it’s hard to see it will ever change...

My pump has arrived!!! Now I just need to figure out what to do, by that I mean when to do it as my ds feeds so frequently and I can never tell how long he’ll sleep for, it could be anything between 15minutes to 2 hours (2 hours rarely happens these days)... Any tips from the expressing mums please??

@Sakura my DD is a frequent feeder, but it did settle down around the 3 rd month mark. There is hope!

@AMagdalena that’s so good to hear as sometimes (evenings mainly) I feel like I’m going mad...

I’m kind of “scared” of trying out the pump in case ds wakes and wants feeding....

A pump is never as effective as a baby for getting milk out and your body doesn’t stop producing milk. There have been many times I have pumped a ton of milk out only for DS to wake demanding a feed. No issue. Just on the boob and off he goes. Maybe a bit more effort than normal first off all as there isn’t a fire hose waiting to open, but not an issue, he’s never not been fed.

I tend to pump with him half an hour of a feed if possible. Milk production is highest between 01:00-05:00 annoyingly enough and still pretty good until 07:00/08:00 and lowest in the evening, so choose your times wisely.

Tough day here so DH said he would sleep in with us tonight. He lasted all of about 17 mins and has taken refuge in the spare room, so jealous... I've just rocked DS to sleep and popped him on the boob. So many sleep associations but what are you meant to do when nothing works?

Ah, don't worry, Jellybean. Apparently I didn't self-settle until I was 2! And I co-slept with my mum, rocked, fed to sleep; you name it. I love sleep now. I bloody love it.
Shame DD doesn't.