Sleep is for the Weak! we got too big?!!??!?!!??

[cruisemum1]

can you believe that?! we got too big?
we should surely get an award from Mumsnet?

well she slept form 7 45 to ............ 1am a record had a fab feed then went back down yeah but woke at 3 and i took into our bed coz i was knackered but she didnt whinge yeah

and she got up at 6am but hey who cares i got some slepp yeah

she seemd not to be so upset when she woke coz we'd left the landing light on so hopefully tonight will be same also not letting her sleep after 5 seems to help

glad you got some sleep booby. i bought a really good night light from blooming marvellous. It's called auto fade light and is £19.99 (10% off with mnet obviously). On it's lowest setting it's like dim candle light and i used it alot when bf at night when ds was tiny so as not to wake dh too much. I like it too because it's so plain and doesn't look obvioulsy babyish ifswim. ds broke it recently ( to be fair it's taken a beating over the last year 1/2)but i think it's so good i'm going to buy another one for his new bedroom when we move. anyway.....god you'd think i made the bloody thing

Tam I've got one of those lights too!

This afternoon's mission: seeing if DS will nap in his new cot. Here's hoping!

Afternoon all.

booby - glad to hear you got a little rest.
those with crap nights.

Meg - how's it going with the new cot?

Stinking night myself, followed by very grumpy morning from dd.....dh working all weekend so feels like a bit of a long slog at the moment. We've been at home all week to see if it makes a difference to dd's naps. For some reason it has worked to a degree for the lunchtime naps, but not the others. I'm giving it 2 more days, and then I'll make a bid for freedom if things aren't better.

DS is currently napping in his cot!

It is sooo much easier having the drop-down side, meant I could sit down next to him and stroke him. I did cheat a bit and use the dummy which I try not to for sleep, but I did take it out before he fell properly asleep.

Well done Meg! I hope he does as well this evening.
DD sleeping fitfully now - keep having to intervene every 20 mins or to get her back to sleep, but she's shattered, so is falling back really quickly. I worry that I will give myself problems by stepping in when she wakes, but if I even leave her for 2 minutes she does tend to work herslef up into a bit a of lather....
I think we might need to get a bedside cot before she outgrows the Moses basket. I have a feeling that the pristine cotbed in the nursery will remain untouched for a good few months (years ?) yet.

afternoon everyone. i've got my act together and put 2 pictures on my profile. aim to get a few more in time now that i've worked out how to do it (had to reduce pic size first).

Lovely pics Amber, looks like two different babies . I can't seem to work it even if I do reduce the size of mine. I'll have another go later.

Do any of you guys use a dummy to sleep? DH and I are currently in hit debate over them (he's for, I'm against... BUT... they do help DS settle and could replace need to BF to sleep. or become massive nightmare falling out 10 times a night

hot debate

meg we do use a dummy and i know you'll think this is really weird but i was pleased when he wanted one. The reason is that i worked in a a nursery for 2 years and saw what comfort they give toddlers especially. in the early days it def helped ds sleep without being bf. Now that he's older for naps i give him his dummy and his blanket and leave the room and he goes to sleep. at night when he wakes up he puts it back in himself. However.... in that middle age where they need/want it but can't put it back in then they are times when you need to keep putting it back in but luckily once ds was in a deep sleep he didn't notice when it fell out. Even now we know (on th e monitor) when he's ina deep sleep when we hear the dummy fall out! x

Blimey... DS has just gone to sleep in his cot... after being put down awake! and not sucking on dummy either!

(I have been rereading NCSS and thought trying this might help with night wakings... didn't expect it to work tbh! will let you know in the morning if it's made any difference)

Tam do you find that having a dummy at night makes them want one during the day? Because that's my real problem, I hate seeing toddlers running round with dummy stuck in mouth all day. But fear that it's a slippery slope from using one for sleep to them needing it all the time.

tbh yes! he does frquently want one and i do give in when we're in the car as i hate if he's tired and gets upset in te car and ther's nothing i can do from the front. he doesn't have it at any other time though x

Meg, I'm with Tam about dummies. I was very against it at first but gave in and once I got over my snobbish attitude about it (not suggesting that you have one but I definately did) then we all relaxed. I tried to get rid of it once and spent a week on the edge!! At the end of the day I reasoned that it gave her comfort when it wasn't possible for me to do so and withholding it was for my sake and not hers and that didn't seem fair somehow. Yes there are times when I want to chuck it across the room and when she wasn't able to put it back in herself it was a nightmare at times but I often wonder if she'd have woken anyway. There are lots of people that have to bf to sleep or use some other crutch, at least the dummy is pretty quick to insert. If you decide to use one you'll have times when you wish you hadn't introduced it but in my experience, those times are far outweighed by the blessed relief we all get when nothing else settles her.

By the way, these days my DD only wants one during the day when she's teething or ill. If she's happy then there is too much going on for her to want one. Plus you can control the use which you can't with thumbs.

Well, a slightly better night last night - DS still woke pretty often but didn't have to feed him each time and we got a couple of 2 hr stretches. Plus 2 naps in his cot yesterday - 1st for 1/2 hour and second for an hour! Only prob is that DH not keen on him having the morning nap in his cot as he likes to be out and about in the mornings - will try and negotiate on that one... Partly a problem cos it takes ages to settle DS at the moment (about 45 mins) but hopefully that will get quicker as he gets used to napping in the cot.

Amber: think you're right about timing the naps - about 10 and about 2 seem right for us at the moment.

Hope everyone had a good night

glad you got a little sleep last night slim. the settling time will def lessen for naps. ds used to take about the same then it got to about 20 mins then 10 and now a year and a half on he goes to sleep in his cot on his own. Just a shame he won't repeat this at night. still stay and pat/sssh to sleep at night. can't do cc so guess we're stuck with this until he grows out of it!

oh and our night was ok(ish). went to bed at 8 quite easily. woke at 1 for milk then again at 4 and came in with us. up at 7 for day. x

Morning everyone.
Tam and Slim for your ok nights. Hope there weren't too many bad ones out there.

Amber - what a cutie!

had a good one here - dd finally settled at 7.45pm - woke here myself at 11.30 to feed in the vain hope this might carry her through the night. She woke at 3, 4.30 for feed, and grizzled on and off 5-7. I should have taken her back to bed. Does anyone else wake their dc to feed before your own bedtime, or have you had more success leaving them to demand overnight as well?

bags only woke ds to feed once or twice but read too many time son here that it can end up making them need to wake at that time so dropped it prettty quicly. also some nights he's gone hours past his usual wake time so we jsut go with the flow x
amber forgot to say gorgeous pics X

hello everyone,

bags - i don't normally feed LO before i go to bed because i go to bed too early. but last night i fed him at 9.30 in his sleep, and he took a huge feed and then slept until 1.45 (with just a small waking and resettled himself at 11). the morning stretch was pants, but at least i got nearly an extra 2 hours there in the first stretch. normally he'd probably feed around 12.
i'm still not sure if its worth doing or not, but i think i'm going to experiment with doing it if i'm up late enough.

Morning all.

Well, DS had a much better night in his cot... asleep at 8, woke 9 'cause heating had inexplicably turned itself on and he was too hot, so changed into 0.5tog bag and settled without feeding. Woke 12.30 for feed, woke at 4 then practised rolling over (his new skill) til I brought him into bed at 5, then slept til 8.30.

Unfortunately, I had a major case of insomnia and didn't sleep a wink until he came in bed with me at 5... so despite his good night I still feel rubbish! Not his fault for once, though!

Bags, I read all the books and followed the advice to wake DD at our bedtime and I regret it because she started to wake for the feed herself and as she got older I knew she didn't need it, it was habit. I won't be making that mistake with the second!!

Tam and Slim for your nights

Meg, LOL. It's typical isn't it?

DD slept well last night but a party two doors down kept us awake until about 2. DD woke at 5 for feed then 7 for day so am knackered beyond belief today.

Still, it's a nice day and DD is asleep in the buggy so I'm off to enjoy 5 mins

Shock update: DS had 2 hour-long naps in his cot! And he only took about 10 mins to settle each time (with me jiggling the cot but hey). Am hoping this is not a blip and that is signals a better night tonight...

yay slim, sounds like real progress!