SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK PART 5....... God have mercy!

[Tamdin]

Can't believe we're onto another new thread already!

Morning. MamaHF at your HV. Of course you are a great mummy. Luckily we have a nice HV (seems to be a rarity) but then I have never told her DS sleeps in our bed -- none of her business as far as I'm concerned.

Baz sorry for your night. Ours was very similar I'm afraid.

morning my lovelies and a big fingers x'd for you amber my sweet

mamahf - for you my love. that is bloody outrageous. i have avoided seeing my HV as she made me feel even worse about bfing (i was already shaky about it from the start, due to lack of confidence. i had a failed attempt 1st time round) but with dd, its t'other end of the scale, shes only between the 2nd and 9th centile. do they not think about the impact that they are having with their antiquated, outdated views.......phew, sorry, trying to be supportive but ending up ranting!!! your lo is just perfect

ibs for your rubbish night. hope you manage to get some space today good luck with the naps today x

meg for your night too, hope your day improves

our night pretty good by recent standards. am loving the bedside, if only i'd have discovered it months ago, sigh
woke briefly at 9.45pm but settled with a cuddle, 11ish and 4ish for feeds. up for day at 7.15am so i'm feeling quite good. the best thing about it is, my back has had some respite and i had a whole 1/2 a bed to myself whilst still getting some cuddles in with dd

MamaHF: at your HV. Why are you being a bad mummy for dealing with her needs at night as well as during teh day? Madness. Do you want to swap with mine? Took DS to his 8 month check (at 10 months) and it was a group thing with an individual chat as well. DS had a great time beating up the other babies and stealing their toys, then got bored and kept making a break for the door (he can move very fast when he wants to). Also kept climbing onto people's laps in hope of being able to steal some food/pens/anything else that looked interesting. Anyway, got to chat with HV, DS still on 91st percentile (has been there since about 10 days after a big initial jump), HV said v good, nice steady weight gain, moving well (I knew that one), how is he sleeping? Honestly said he wasn't that great, but I hoped he would settle better when in his own room. She asked if I was bfing him back to sleep, I said yes. She nodded, congratulated me on having a nice sociable baby and that was it!

I was bracing myself for a bit of a rant so I can save it up for your HV if you like

Ginger: DS is completely hyper atm. No idea why. Has also taken to waking up at 10 or 11 and taking ages to get back to sleep. I suspect teeth but no signs yet apart from drooling.

Amber: about the thrush: is it getting any better? Might be a touch of mastitis if you're cutting down a bit on feeds now your LO is on solids. Hope the BFC can help.

Oh, and I;m there on the poor nights. DS in with us from about midnight as he refused to go to sleep in his cot. Woke a couple of times then crawling about from 6am. Sigh. I think the weather is definitely not helping - hoping for a cool autumn. Also, we've taken down the blackout from the window temporarily as I'm visiting my parents for a week and don't want DS to refuse to sleep in anything other than a completely dark room.

Oh, and I'm assuming telling DS off at this age isn't going to do much good? He made a baby cry at the checkup yesterday by pulling his hair - said 'No' firmly and took him away but am I setting him up to be a spoilt bully? Yes, I am being a paranoid mother. Heard something on R4 yesterday about ADHD and now concerned about DS being out of control...

Tibsy: great news about the cot . Don't think we have room for one atm unfortunately.

EP, thanks, i don't think LO is eating enough solids to really cut down milk. is probably eating similar amount, haven't been engorged or anything, except for once at night.
have been run down though, which i think can set the stage for thrush. going hardcore on the echinacea and acidopholus now!

Morning Tibs and EP. Well, our day hasn't got out to a great start as DS climbed out of his Bumbo in the split second when I was putting the cat out and fell about a foot to the floor, bumping his head

Seems OK after a cuddle and some boob, and gone down for nap OK, but not sure if we should take him to get checked out just in case?

Did he lose consciousness at all? Was he sick? Are his pupils dilated (esp one larger than the other)? Is he more sleepy/distracted than usual? If so, take him to be checked out. If not, take him if you're worried, or just keep a close eye on him today.

DS fell out of the bed onto his head and apart from a few yells was fine. All babies do it at least once. I'm sure he will be OK, but if youwant to get him checked out thwey won;t dismiss you for being a paranoid mother!

He wasn't knocked unconscious, no blood or anything, wasn't sick, you can't even tell where on his head got bumped -- so I think it was more shock than anything. But will keep an eye on him after he wakes up from his nap. Think DH is cross at me about it too I feel bad enough already

Mamahotfoot, What a disgrace your HV is. I'd be very very . You don't need charts to tell you how well or not your DD is doing and you certainly don't need telling you're a bad mummy. You are responding to her needs day and night, surely that makes you a better mummy than most. I wouldn't dwell on it too much but if you feel strongly then write and complain. It really is not on that they feel they can speak to you like that.

I told my HV that we co slept and she didn't really make much of it. Said long term probably wasn't the best idea but didn't give me advice. Said if we wanted advice on sleep training then ask. That's how you should be treated. Offered advice, not told what to do.

Baz, sorry for your bad night. Hope you manage to make it through the day.

EP, I was at a todder group the other day and all the babies were doing that, snatching toys, poking in the eyes etc. I think all you can do is say no and distract them, they'll learn eventually. I don't think they understand at that age. All the other mums at the group seemed quite relaxed, it was a case of survival of the quickest. I do wonder when it has to start getting more serious tho. FWIW, I don't think your little fella is going to be a bully. All kids (and I mean children not babies, they're just grabbing) go through phases of pulling hair, biting etc. It's just that, a phase, bullying is something different imo. Tam will be able to give you some advice tho as she's a childcare expert.

Meg, wouldn't worry too much unless he knocked his head on a sharp object or something. Just keep an eye on him. It's probably the first of many bumps. When my DD learned to sit up she was always leaning forward and clonking her head on something. First day at the CM's she bashed her head on the corner of a wooden box. I'm always wincing and trying to protect her from hurting herself but it's impossible.

Our night was OK ish. The warewolf baby had disappeared and left us with our usual terror. Waking hourly between 10 and 1. I plonked her on the floor with me and she woke a few more times but I can't remember when. Not too bad in all.

The tooth? Make that two. I think they're both through.

i can't belive what HVs get up to. where on earth do they get their training? cereal box?

Ginger: glad you had a slightly better night

Meg: DH yells at me for Putting His Son In Danger as well - I take the line that you are careful and you learn from your mistakes but accidents will sometimes happen. You just make sure they don't happen again (then they leanr to do something new).

bloody hell, just typed out an epic post to Ep and Meg and the flaming computer ate it
hi to ginger and for your night

meg, basically was going to say what EP said, oh and that i'd def recommend a paediatric first aid course. helped me feel a lot more confident re. accidents. even coped with a scary choking incident
their poor heads are so big in comparison to their little bodies that bumped heads are very common, but theyre tough tho and apparently, theres enough skull (bone/cartilage whathaveyou) for a 10 year olds

EP your lo sounds lovely, not a bully. he's just testing the waters and as ginger said. dd used to let everyone take toys off her, shes learnt that she can hold on to them now!!! re. the saying no thing, ive been trying it with dd and shaking my head as well. now when she wants to eat the compost from the pot plant, she looks at me, shakes her head and.............does it anyway!! think they def understand, but whether they pay any attention is another matter

ginger, meant the hourly wakings, for the rest of it

morning all. ds been running riot this morning so haven't had chance to post.

EP your ds is def not a bully and does not have ADHD he's just a normal little boy. they all do it. ds was exactly the same at that age and i worried he was too aggressive but dh thankfully kept reassuring me that he was normal and that no matter what we should support his personality (within reason not talking about bullying of course)
he has since come across alot bigger boys and has been pushed a couple of times in the park which made him think twice. It's a hard balance to strike. I want him to defend himself and be confident but not go too much the other way and be aggressive. Unfortunately i think a bit of pushing and shoving with other children is how they learn.
Even biting and hair pulling are very common in children under 2.5

sorru haven't commented on everyone's post but have read them .Will try get back on when ds goes to sleep

forgot to say ds lasted until 5.35 for his bottle. that's (technically) through the night with no milk. prob a one off but am v pleased

Thanks for the reassurance . Sometimes seems as if I will never stop worrying if This Is Normal

Hi Ladies,

Meg - how is DS? ok I hope. DD is obsessed with rolling onto her front and is always bumping her head. DH and I take turns to guilty confess what has happened under our "supervision".

Tam - did I hear you say THROUGH THE NIGHT ? well done - you deserve it after all the hard work on reducing DS's milk.

EP - your DS sounds lively, and a whole lot of fun. Is that not just what soon-to-be toddlers do?

Ginger - hope the hourly waking disappears now those teeth are through.

Tibs - glad you've got a bit more room now!

Amber - things any better?

I was in a foul mood this morning. Feel very for swearing at DD, but we were both really irritable after neither of us getting enough sleep. Was worse as DH was in bed after working 2pm-5am yesterday, so I didn't get even a moment's respite. Feel a little better after some fresh air and emergency carrot cake.

Baz: the world always looks better after cake.

Tam: well done you! I think DS might be approaching the old 6-month growth spurt -- fed loads last night and been hungry today too.

Thanks for all your reassurance re: head bump. He seems to have suffered no ill effects and is his normal cheery self.

We have finally exchanged contracts and will be moving in 13 days . And we are going to decorate before we move in -- anyone know a good painter in north London??

Meg - Congrats! That's so speedy. You must be thrilled .

Can't help with a painter though. We do our own. Badly .

ps - dd waking from lunchtime nap (day 3 of No Swaddle). 3x resettling - better than yesterday when I lost count!

Meg, woo hoo for exchange! how exciting - and it's all happening so soon hope ds okay after bump.

IBS hope the emergency carrot cake fixed your mood a little.

I'm still having pain, but was eased a bit by having a nice 3 course lunch and glass of wine. DS also been behaving like an angel all day we had a really nice time swimming this morning.

EP, reckon ds's behaviour seems normal. One of those things they have to go through, just like showing their bums and willy to everyone (my nephew went through that and apparently its common, hard not to laugh really)

tibs, still thinking its funny you had this bedside cot the whole time!

Glad you enjoyed the swimming Amberjee. I wanted to do teh lessons but Fridays not good for me as am work.

Am getting another cold - immune system gone to pot. Not that it was great before DS arrived. Does anyone know if you can take echinacea while pg?

Not pg, breastfeeding

before I start any rumours

LOL ep was just about to say PG?
don't know about herbal supplements when bf. best thing would be to try and get to a homeopath/nautropath for a quick session. I know it's a pita and not a priority when you're so busy but would be worth it if you could get your immune system sorted. Hope you get some rest tonight.