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

[Tamdin]

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

So I'm the first one up?

Another v unsettled night - DS v hot and a bit shouty, feeding a lot. He seems fine this morning though, so I still suspect teeth rather than lurgy (DH suspects General Wilfulness but he had to deal with a non-napping baby yesterday so he's a bit bitter).

Amber: that sounds great. Glad you had a good night as well Ginger. I'mhoping DS will get over whatever it is soon and we can get back to our more or less peaceful nights!

Meg - we're in the same boat re having to go out. Twice daily trips for us. DD loves sitting in a swing in the park (she can't sit up properly, but has worked out that she needs to hold on)

EP - for your night. Hope DS perks up soon. I'm sure once he's practising his new walking skills he'll burn off a bit more energy.

Amber, ginger, tam and mummymagic: pleased to here that you had good nights last night.

Fab night here. DH fed DD at 2.30, and then she woke at 6.15! I must confess that I encouraged her to go back to sleep, as things just seem to flow better when she gets up between 7-7.30.

Baz, that's a brilliant night! And EP, hope your nights settle down soon too.

Ours was OK, seems to be following the pattern of the past few nights: bed 7.30, awake 11, 1, 3 then in bed with me til 6.45. This is manageable but I do wish we could cut out that 1am waking, he surely can't be hungry at that time so it must be habit, but he will only settle after boob.

morning all.
ibs and meg for your ok nights

EP for your crap one.

Ours was pretty crap too

ds was very sick at 10pm which required a hose down,new bedding, new pj's for everyone and 2 of our pillows are now in the bin (not worth saving!)

He was upset after being sick so took a while to settle. Then woke for milk at 2 (prob starving and very thirsty after being sick) woke at 4 (had some water but wanted milk) woke at 7.30 for the day.

hi all!
ginger - sorry, could have sworn that dds birthday was whilst i was away.....thats why i wished her a happy birthday before, duh!!!!!! a big happy birthday to your lovely girl!!

sorry, havent had time to read thru all the posts. i hope there are some continued good nights.

EP, sorry for your rubbish night. hope you get some improvement soon

ibs - for your fantastic night, whoo hoo...more of the same little ibsy

meg - for your night too, not too shabby. am putting in a request for lo to cut out that 1am feeding

tam for your lo. hope hes feeling better tonight and you get an improved night x

our last couple of nights have been ok, a couple of wakings, nothing to write home about...

hope everyone has a good night,catch you all tomorrow.
oooohhh, i'm off for a facial tomorrow, to use up a voucher i got alomost a year ago on my birthday its a really posh place, so am feeling a bit nervous, usually get my treatments at work where its all a bit hippy man!!! am looking forward to it tho as it includes a back massage, yum yum!!!!
catch you all later x

Tisy: enjoy your facial . Finally got my hair cut yesterday, much shorter and looks great (though I haven't tried to wash it yet!). So nice to be pampered for a bit.

Tam: for your night. How is DS today? DS still coldy and snotty and waking a lot, but not as much shrieking so I hope he's settling down. He's crawling around with an apple (favourite food of the moment) leaving bits of peel everywhere and having great fun.

morning tibs and ep. Tibs enjoy your facial. lucky thing!

Ep ds still not great.
think it's def his teeth. he's very cranky and was wakeful alst night but he just lay beside me with his eyes open

I was supposed to go out for dinner last night with 2 girl friends but cancelled because ds had a 2 hour tantrum (4.30-6.30) over a biscuit!!
WTF?
I was determined not to lose though. He wanted a biscuit instead of his dinner. I buy him the 'organix' gingerbread men so i know they're not the worse thing in the world to eat but i don't want him to think he can have what ever he likes when he likes!

He tried crying, falling on the floor, hitting himself etc etc but in the end he went to bed at 7 with nothing to eat at all. felt so mean but waht was i supposed to do?

did I handle it badly?

Tam: I would have stood firm as well. I hate tantrums. DS not at that stage yet but don't think it's far away...

Thanks EP it's so hard to know what to do. I don't know if he even 'gets' it which is the hardest part.
i'm quite sure he didn't go to bed last night thinking "oh i really learnt my lesson there", it think he went to bed exhausted from being upset and hungry.

Dh has taken him out to local cafe for breakfast and then to park. I couldn't face going incase he starts playing up again. dh couldn't care less what other people think but i have to confess to being slightly embarrassed incase people think i'm a crap mum ......especially when i feel like I give everyhting i have to this parenting malarkey!

Tam, sounds like fun! I'm sure you did the right thing by standing firm, though.

Hi Tibs and EP

I have a voucher too that I got for my 30th birthday, £100 worth from my family members, but all the 'experiences' seem to be based a long way away and it's tough to drive any distance with LO's eczema how it is. Hate to sound ungrateful but if I'd had £100 cash instead at least I could have bought a nice pair of shoes!

Anyway we had a crappy night, fell asleep on sofa at 9pm so went upstairs at 10 but sod's law that DS woke then and didn't really settle for an hour... then up at 12, 1.30-3 (ouch), 5 and 7.30 for the day. At least not a 6am start -- should be grateful for small mercies, I suppose.

Also have been stressing a little over weaning, he sometimes seems to go for food but sometimes totally rejects it, I suppose it's still early days (been two-and-a-bit weeks) but I'm just not sure where to go next -- he is currently 'eating' breakfast and lunch but sometimes doesn't have anything and mostly just a taste or two, so I'm not sure whether to introduce tea yet, or drop a milk feed, or just go with this for now!

meg only piece of advice on food/eating I can give you is to RELAX (says me fighting with ds over a frigging biscuit!)

because unless you're blessed with an 'eater' (bit like being blessed with a sleeper) there will ALWAYS be days when they eat very little and days when they don't stop!
Ginger's rule of thumb has always been 'food is for fun until they're one'

The only thing you can do is not make a fuss, offer lots of healthy alternatives and hope for the best.

Tanya byron (who did live web chat on here on thurs) had a good piece a few weeks ago in the paper (think it's from her new book) and her top tips were

eat together as a family
keep calm
don't hover over children when they're eating
Praise good eating
get peers round who eat well ( for older kids)

all commone sense really. Just know you're not alone. ds still has days when he eats like a horse and days liek yesterday where had barely anything. it's stressful but I'm trying to take my own advice and realise he won't starve so it'll be fine

morning all!!
EP and Tam, sorry lo's are still not up to par. wishing them both speedy recoveries/teeth appearances

tam, fwiw, i would have stood my ground re. the biscuit thing too. i was very fortunate in that ds very very rarely chucked a wobbly. he didnt even have the 'terrible twos' .....dd however is another story, its started already!! but i'm a stubborn soandso, so it may just be battle of wills

meg, sorry you had a crappy night,and as tam says re. the feeding, i know its hard, but try to relax. i found myself getting stressed initially, but once i relaxed, it all seemed to fall into place. they definitely do have days when they eat well and then conversely, those when they eat like sparrows. i also believe that when they initially start, its a bit of a novelty. after a few weeks they start to think, 'hang on, why does she keep shoving these funny things at me, milk is so much easier!!'
i found it when i worked at school, for the first couple of weeks, the reception children loved the novelty, new toys, new friends etc, then when they realised they had to come every day, some started protesting, bless em.

phew, that was a bit of an essay i'll shut up now!!

our night ok, think there were 3 wakings, but i just plopped her onto the boob and she settled well. think shes got some teeth coming thru, so that might explain it. anyway, off to get myself ready for my treat!! hope you get to ahve yours soon meg. i know what you mean re. the money tho

EP - cant remember the last time i had my hair cut...know i've had it done once since dd was born

Tibs: this is my third hair cut in about a year!

Meg: sorry for your night. The 1:30-3 waking sounds hard. Re teh food, DS didn't 'get' food for ages - think it was a coupoe of moinths before he was eating 3 meals a day and he still doesn't eat all that much. It is a pain, but try and relax and see what happens . Another Dr T tip on here was to lose the baby wipes as being attacked with a scented wipe after every meal is a bt off-putting

EP: DS still has a small orange stain on his nose from lunchtime carrot & pea so no over-zealous wiping here!

Hi everyone,

Tam for DS's "moment" yesterday. You know you did the right thing.

EP - hurrah for a haircut.

Tibs - hope you enjoyed your much-deserved pampering session.

Meg for you dodgy night. Weaning is a a bit of a pain when they are still having so many milk feeds. I feel like I spend all my time feeding/clearing up aftermath from feeding/planning and preparing next feed !

We've been out all day at Battersea Park. There was a reunion party for all the rehomed dogs (our cat's from Battersea Dogs' & Cats Home, but felines are not invited ). Took DD and she was really excited to see all the displays and shows. Only downside is that she only napped for 30mins so now poor DH is quickly feeding a very tired and slightly tearful little girl . Think we'll be going for early bath and bed .

Baz my cat is from Battersea too! I've had her for 10 years this November.

We went to the Enfield Autumn Show this afternoon in the park by our house, and were smitten by the dogs at the Retired Greyhounds' Association -- think we might get one when the cat is no longer with us (which will hopefully not be for a few years yet!).

How are you finding weaning, Baz? Are you doing BLW or purees, I can't remember.

Meg - you would have loved it today! there were so many greyhounds. we had 2 retired racing greyhounds when I was growing up, and they make the most wonderful pets. If we didn't both work outside the home, I'd definitely think about it (though Cat might have some strong views!).

We're weaning on mashed veg - various combos. DD has lunch and tea, and I must admit she normally wolfs down what she's given (about 3/4 yogurt pot size). Tonight was a rare exception as she was shattered at tea time. But then she's always been a big eater. I'm thinking of starting finger foods tomorrow - perhaps some toast after her morning milk. I am petrified of the gagging thing (I know it's not proper choking) so I'm not looking forward to it if I'm honest. DH is around tomorrow morning and he's done infant resus, so it'll be as good a time as any. What times are your milk/solid feeds?

evening girls. IBS hope dd has settled down after her bottle.

Meg dh wants a grey hound too. He's wanted one for a few years but we've agreed when we move house we can start looking. There are quite a few grey hound rescue centres in Ireland due us paddies liking dog racing a bit too much...that and drinking of course!

(i love stereotypes)

x posted IBS.
will be picking your brains when it comes to grey hounds then!

Tee-hee! Tam you MUST get a greyhound . They are great with kids, dead soppy, and after a decent sprint in the morning are happy just to potter around with you. I will be so if you or Meg get one though .

IBS I let dh read your post and he said "see". I would love ds to have a dog i'm just concerned we'd be the people who'd end up on 'it's me or the dog' or the 'dog whisperer' begging for help!

anyway have just been on a spending spree on no added sugar, jakes of soho and cut4cloth for ds!
feels less guilty than shopping for me!

I don't think we'll be getting one for a while as the cat would have a fit! DH is a dog person, though, so I have agreed that we can get a dog next (the cat came with me when we got together).

Baz, milk & feed times can vary depending on what time he gets up and whether he takes 2 or 3 naps. Today his routine was 7.30 awake & milk, 8.30 breakfast, 9.30-11 nap, 11 milk, 12.30 lunch, 1-2.30 nap, 2.30 milk, 5 milk, 7.30 milk & bed. But yesterday he got up at 6.30 and had a shorter morning nap, so had lunch after his lunchtime nap and had a quick late-afternoon nap too. My next step will be to introduce tea, but as he is only taking a bit of food (if any) I think it will be a while before we go below five milk feeds a day. (Not to forget the night feeds too!)

we'll still messing up milk and food times after 2 months, so don't feel bad girls. somedays he eats a lot. other days not. i try to think it balances out over a week or so but it is annoying when you prepare a meal and they just stare at it.

we've been in reverse the last few nights. verrrrry unsettled. waking a lot. last night is a blur. 7 times ... at a guess. maybe 8. it's not about feeding, he wasn't that hungry, maybe teeth or some developmental thing, i don't know. hope it calms down soon. am very tired.