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

[Tamdin]

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

thankyou mummy magic. needed to hear those words today. Think i'm going to get out my copy of oliver james to remind me why i'm doing it this way.

so pleased for you that your dd has made such a peaceful transition into her bed

Glad we are all helping. Trust your instincts.

As a teacher of very screwed up secondary kiddies I have quite passionate ideas about discipline, boundaries and attachment!! I hate, hate, hate the idea of crying for 1minute etc as a 'technique', it just removes all ideas of listening and responding to children as individuals.

Tam, how odd you should mention James.

I have just picked up a copy of They F*ck You Up from the charity shop, and am looking forward to getting stuck in.

BTW, the baby book I haven't binned is "Babies" by Christopher Green. He is a fan of CC, but acknowledges it only has an 80% success rate. That is a bit daunting for me - what if we got through all that misery and DD is one of the 20%? And your child is more likely to be in that 20% if, like my DD, they've been a crap sleeper from birth (as opposed to those who just lose their way at growth spurts, teething etc). So to do CC is in some ways a taking a risk that you'll spend a fortnight with everyone being miserable and things being no better at the end of it.

ps - Ginger
Just wanted to wish you GOOD LUCK for this week ! Not sure if you've started back today, or later this week, but anyway, I'll be thinking of you.

And just think, in 6 weeks' time when you're an old hand at this working mummy business, you can help me through it !

Hi all, just a quickie.

Tam. Think you've had some great advice from the others. You are doing a brilliant job. Mummymagic has hit the nail on the head about not feeling like we're wrong for responding to our lo's. Follow your instincts and be proud of it.
Meg, sorry your night was so pants. We had a 2 1/2 wake session last night too. horrid she was perfectly happy tho just not sleepy at all.

Amber, the babbling is cute isn't it? They sound like R2D2

Back to work on Wed. Going to check out another nursery tomorrow. Can't work out how to search for council run ones on ofstead tho.

Anyways, must dash. sorry for those I haven't mentioned

hi everyone. i bet LO would be one of the 20% it didn't work for too. phew, we've just had a huge vomit session now involving loads of washing and i need to take a shower once LO goes to sleep (hopefully he does soon). i don't know if it's because i gave him pineapple, or he had too much milk or what. but it was a HUGE vom!

still fighting the battle for a nap ... not sure what to do now. he was major cranky, so i took him into the bathroom while i had a shower. after that, i tried to resettle him again, but he's really fighting it. may have to do the emergency pram power walk soon. sigh.
what would be a 'normal' 2 nap schedule? something like 9.30/10 and 2?? seems like we are dropping the third one, but we are all over the place at the moment. at the rate we are going today there will have only been one nap

hey amber -
dd appears to be settling on 2 naps right now.
she naps at around 9-9.30, but only for 30mins, then 12-1 ish, for 2 hours.

Someone told me the other day that my DD is bang on the SWMNBN routine for her age. just goes to show that that particular routine is no guarantee of night time sleep!

hmmm, tomorrow i might try 9.30 and 1.30 and see what happens. he just fell asleep for 2nd nap, been trying to get him to bed for 2.5 hours. wonder how tonight will go...

I had wondered if it was time to try 2 naps, since this middle-of-the-night waking for an hour business started. (As it coincided with his morning nap getting longer.) But even if he has 1,5hrs in the morning I just don't seem to be able to keep him awake more than 2 hours to push the lunchtime nap back enough to keep him going til bedtime!

Today he only had half an hour this morning, but made up for it with 2 hours at lunch (I passed out on the bed for half an hour too). Even after that he couldn't stay awake two more hours and went down for third nap after 90 mins awake. I think his increased mobility (sitting up, trying desperately to crawl) is knackering him out during the day. If only it would make him sleep all night too!

Hope everyone is having a good day, Tam hope you're feeling better and Ginger good luck with the nurseries. I should really be packing as LO takes last nap but am watching Countdown and surfing MN instead .

Meg - sometimes DD gets knackered in the afternoon but when I've swaddled her and tried to put her down for a nap she's protested loudly. Now if she's flagging we try 20-30 mins of quiet time, just cuddling on the sofa, dummy in, and some relaxing music on.

Although I wouldn't take any advice from me - DD's nights are as unpredictable as ever!

BTW, if anyone's at home now, there's a fab programme on uktvHistory, called sex, love, and war - it's all about what naughtiness our grandparents got up to, and frankly I'm [shocked]!

Meg, I would keep going until 2 naps somehow becomes easier than 3... we are having some days with 2 naps and some with 3 ... it really depends how long the first nap goes for and what time he gets up. LO can rarely stay awake more than 2.5 hours either, except seems ok with about 3 hour stretch before bed. it's all kinda tricky and makes plannign the day completely useless. just ordered some new underwear from figleaves. yay. sure is time to stop wearing maternity briefs!! just haven't had time to think about new ones ...
if anyone wants a treat you can get 20% off at www.figleaves.com by typing in compaug in the promotional code field...
they have nice nursing bras too, a few weeks back i got some new anita ones.

Amber, we're still on two naps and 9 and 1.30 seem to be about right for us. It seems to go a bit wonky for a few days while they establish a new pattern in my (not very vast) experience.

Missed that programme Baz. Sounded good too.

Amber, glad you're getting some nice new pants I lived in the same disgusting nursing bras for almost 10 months and was so glad to get out of them. Think I need to do an emergency pant audit before purchasing new ones. DD emptied my undies draw the other day and DH counted 64 pairs of knickers as he put them back. Few of which he was impressed with

hi all. Ginger, amberm, IBS, meg and mummy magic thanks for your support as always and ginger lol at your vast knicker collection! i had a major audit at xmas and started again. Was properly measured (as i'm sure ds sucked some of the filling out whilst bf'ing)and got lots of lovely new underwear. amazing how much better you feel.
Hope tomorrow goes well with nursery.

IBS james 'they you up' had a powerful effect on my parenting beliefs and was a huge eye opener on my own personality etc etc. I watch anything he's on as imo he really knows his stuff!

anyway ds has had his legs walked off him today. Mum and I took him on a forest walk and then to the kids park. he was so tired walking by the end we had to take turns carrying him back to the car (he weighs 2 stone now!)
Fingers crossed it means he won't be awake 10-2 tonight

Hey Tam -
Well the flat's a tip as I've been reading my new book instead of tidying up the day's rubbish. Have diagnosed myself with a personality disorder.

I guess I should confess that I'm a mental health professional (approved to section, so watch out!). So there's bits of the book that are familiar, but I'm really enjoying the celebrity case studies in particular. And I've not read much on child/developmental psychology - having DD has sparked that interest!

IBS dh is a forensic psychologist and says i'm an arm chair psychotherapist
can you be sectioned for being a know it all with no official training!

morning all
pleased to report very good night here.
ds went to bed at 8 and didn't wake until 4.35am (had 4oz milk) then woke at 7.30 for day
(co-sleeping so doesn't get a gold star just yet!)

hope soem more good nights out there.

wonder how tibs is getting on?

Morning all,

Hope there were some good nights out there.

Ours was rubbish. Asleep 8-11.30, then loadsawakings. Felt worse as DH ended up working all night, so there was no-one to share the misery with . That's a few crap nights in a row - wonder if I can blame it on a growth spurt?

X-posted Tam - what a fab night! And well deserved after all your hard work.

thanks IBS. sorry your wasn't good
anything nice planned for today?

Hi Tam,

DH is "working" from home today after 22hour spell at work, finishing at 7am today. So we'll make plans when he gets up later.
In the meantime it's Morrisson's in the rain for us .

What are you up to?

Tam, i'll give you a gold star anyway!
IBS, what does dh do, is he a lawyer? poor you having to suffer alone. hope you get to have a nice day today.

'waitress' is on at mum and baby cinema. am thinking of trying to go if LO has a good rest, but still getsup in time.

Personally I'm a total hypochondriac but i've never given much thought to mental illnesses. Something new to consider me thinks.

DH took over last night but DD was up at 5 again and I've got a cold so feeling a bit rough. Sorry for your rubbish nights and Tam for yours. All that walking obviously worked.

Amber of your baby and parent cinema. Living in London gives you so many more choices. There aren't many (any in fact)restaurants/pubs here I'd take DD into even with the smoking ban. Most places just aren't geared up for children and you really notice the effect children have on your life when you can't go out to eat.

Righto, off to the nursery. I'll let you know how it goes later.

Bet Tibsy is a bit soggy in the tent. It's turned chilly overnight hasn't it?