SLEEP IS FOR THE WEEK part 7 -- prop your eyes open with matchsticks here

[MegBusset]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

CM, good luck with DS2. I hope he feels better soon. My DS has perfected the iron lips maneuver to refusing medication. Poor bear, doesn't he know it's for his own good? I would love to meet your little ones one day. DD, LOL! TEE HEE. DS is going to be a beer man, but it looks like DD might be into alcopops?

Wish I could help you re the feeding frequency, I give DS boob whenever he wants it, particularly now that I am back at work oh well. I'll raise a titty boy, I don't care!

Meg and Amber, thanks for the encouragement re DS bullying tendancies. He's so funny, the grunting and wanting to eat the little girls!

Good idea re: ergo on Wanted or Ebay. Will do, tho am quite instant gratification...wonder if I can wait??

Really feeling v. lucky for SIFTW thread.

we are lucky to have you here RoRo.
my ds doesn't do medication either. we have to be very very tricky to even get a dribble of meds into him. same goes for spoon feeding though. he's a nil by mouth baby, unless he can shove it in all by himself.

charlie, i think it's still pretty normal to feed that often. i had a baby that was more likely to refuse the breast than want it (which led to it's own problems) but i've seen a lot of women that are feeding 2-3 hourly. the balance will shift but it's such an individual thing. and they'll go through phases. i notice now that when ds is in a new situation that seems a bit overwhelming for him, he'll decide to need a feed. it's so much more than nutrition for them.
it's great now that i can just hand him a biscuit or piece of fruit to stave off hunger until we get home or something. it's no longer so 'urgent' when he has to feed.

Amber,

Last night was good, to bed at 10:30, a quick feed, then it's a blur of feedings, pattings, wakings and up at 4:30, then fed to sleep until 6:30.

SIX THIRTY! HOORAY! DH took DS and I got another hour. Feeling close to normal (well, god, like I remember what normal is) today.

I hope you all had good nights, too. Tibs, how did the MMR go? Meg, how is your DS? CM, is DS2 feeling better today? Effie, how's your cough?

It's Friday everyone! My favorite day of the M-F set of days (because of course Saturday and Sunday are the super-best of all).

right ladies, you all need a serious talkin to! how much did you lot actually work yesterday, it;s taken me 20mins to catch up and i even had to write notes from previous pages so i dont forget anything, how bad is that! lol

right so, EP - what colour is your didymos, have to say i love them.

on the sling front i'd say go for a mai tei, they're fab, just looking into buying one at the mo and my wrap is greta for the back but not that easy when i'm out and about so that's my nexct purchase. the podeagi is also fab for a bigger baby, my friend just got one and it's really easy to use and lovely fabric.

RoRo - is you maya wrap the ring slign or the wrap style? or quick up and downs i found my ring one invaluable.

i use 2places currently to get my slins, naturual mothering and big mama slings, both .co.uk BMS is really good value, NM is depends on what you want!

Meg - thanks for asking about DF, we're getting on ok thank you. i spent yesterday at my mums and she was trying to persuade me to leave, but for some reason it only made me want to work it out even more. he's said h'll do anything to keep me, which is lovely, i can have more babies yay!!! that was major thing. i'm too young to be told i cant have anymore! i kno i should ne thankful for the 2 i've got, but i want more, is that so wrong??

finaly getting to the sleep bit!lol

last ngiht was ok again. got in at 8, both kids to bed, DS2 awake at 1 and 4 for dummy, start the day at 6. ds1 slept through with his new 'puppy'......a friend suggested that he might be picking up on me and df that's why he kept waking, he's been a right sod durin the day too.....grrr

welcome CSB and Urban - you;'re lucky i never got a cup of coffee or a badge when i joined

after thought re; sling thing. if you need more advice go to slingmeet dot co dot uk or thebabywearer dot com

Beal, I know, we're so chatty during the day...if my boss is monitoring my internet usage I'll probably be fired, and then god watch out I'll be posting all day long!

Got to go to work, but thank you for the sling advice. Mine is a Maya Wrap with the rings, never could figure out how to use the goddamn thing. Pardon the swearing. It was so frustrating, esp. early on when he was small and hated the pram and couldn't get comfy in the sling.

Okay, off to work! [puts on a strong face]

have a good day roro - not doubt you'll be here during the day!!

have you still got the maya?

sorry was awol yesterday!
have tried to read up on all posts. will get back later when ds is asleep.
ds is scaring me.....i think he might be trying to drop his nap already!!!!!! (he's too young please god!)
he's only been having 50mins-1 hour for last few days.used to be 2-3 hours.

anyway it is what it is.
he's still sleepig through the night (co-sleeping for newbies)
last night i was out for dinner with girls.
slipped in beside them both at 11 ish and he woke at 8 for the day

i missed someone. CM re feeding. it;s fine for a baby to feed that frequently. it shouldn't really matter how many times, for how long, and frequency. because we're now in a bottle feeding culture we tend to time things as bottle fed babies are on say a 4hourly feeding schedule. As long as you offer both at the feed you know babe is full. DS2 was so active so young, that i used to feed him every 45mins on both sides for 10mins each! he's never fed longer than that, but will now go 4hours ish between feeds.

I might have to start taking notes aswell Beal!!

Thankyou for asking after ds1. He's still off school, but seems better. He got up a few times in the night, but dh got up to him. (Good thing as it always seemed to coincide with me feeding ds2)

Hurray for your lie in RoRo.

DS2 decided to be awake at 5 this morning after waking every 3 hours since 8.30pm. I tried ignoring him, then feeding him but he wasn't having any of it!!

Thankyou Amber, RoRo & Beal re feeding. Ds2 is not always feeding for food. Actually alot of the time he thrashes about when feeding and cries. I hope he'll be better when I wean him. I had similar experiences with DD, but I thought she'd settled down by now. It is on rare occasions I can get him to take more than 5 mins worth from 1 side, let alone 2!! My other Dcs prefer food to milk so maybe he'll be the same.

for your night Tamdin and getting out with the girls. Know how you feel about the nap. I was so upset when DS1 stopped his. But was actually happy when DD stopped hers because it gave us more freedom a she always napped in her cot.

Hello everyone else I hope you had good nights.

beal, where did your friend get hte podeagi? they look wonderful.

glad there were some goodnights out there

oooh, i forgot to report on our night - one waking, and it was at 10pm yipppeeee. means i got a full nights sleep until 7am. way to go ds!!

for you amber, thats great.

naturalmothering, it;'s about £25 but i'd recommend the narrow. she got the wide and there is far too much material unless you;re doing a torso carry

Morning all!

Well, I suspect I'm being a bit premature but the BEST thing EVER happened last night. I'd been out to an exercise class (must be madness, wasting energy like that, but hey) and when I got back DP was doing the evening ritual of baby-in-sling dancing round the kitchen with the cooker hood fan on full (seriously it's the only way to chill him out at night). I got washed and into bed to attempt the feed to sleep fight (currently the only way I can get him to sleep lying down!), which took me an 1hr 15mins which is respectable. He woke again 45 minutes later (grooooan), so changed/strapped grobag on extra tight /fed again and he eventually went back to sleep only to wake 45 minutes later again (cue more groans). I'm currently feeding him mostly by stretching a boob over while he lies in a cotbed sidecar arrangement so I don't have to move him far once he's asleep, so the idea of another god knows how long hanging out of the covers while he gnashed away had me despairing. He was shouting rather than crying and experience tells me that there's no point trying to settle him when he's doing that so I said to DP I was going to leave him a few minutes until he decided to whinge or cry properly, and meantime I rolled him onto his side just to change the tone of the noise (variety's the spice of life etc). Left a hand on him while he bawled and suddenly it all went quiet and lo and behold he'd fallen asleep by himself! This hasn't happened since he was about 2 or 3 weeks old! I was on the point of tears with relief that he CAN actually do it!

He slept for the best part of 4 hours (12-3.45) after which I fed him and put him back in the cot and he went back to sleep by himself! He woke again at 5 and 6 which is no big thing, he came into bed then. Up at 7.15 for half an hour then fed back to sleep until now (he's just woken up ...).

I am truly amazed at the power of this thread ... I mean, they told me it was good, but I feel like I have been touched by the hand of the god of sleeping babies.

In fairness it would once have counted as a crappy night but 4 hours of blissful uninterrupted sleep - wow!

After that long and very excitable ramble (momentous for me, a tad yawn-inducing for others perhaps) I feel very proud of him.

Charliemama - until 2-3 weeks ago I was feeding every couple of hours. Only in the last wee while has it stretched to 3-4 hours. I would just go with what your baby asks for.

Keep the slings chat coming, I suspect I may have to ask granny for a new one for Christmas ... .

Better go now, he's awake and ready for action by the sounds of things, take care all!

CSB - thats fantastic. long may it last!

CSB, i'm so glad you got 4 hours straight. i always think if you get one 4 hour stretch in the night you can definitely function the next day. at some point i had a rule that unless LO was really crying, i wouldn't do anything. if he was just having a whinge, i would leave him to it. it's a bit harsh, but i also have earplugs for that purpose. ithink in that whingey state they can fall back to sleep sometimes. i'm so glad for you to see him do it. gives you hope doesn't it!

beal, sorry, what's a torso carry?

oh, i think i see, torso carry is without using your shoulders for support isn't it?

Sounds like there were some good nights out there

Ours was not brilliant, but an improvement on the night before:

Bed 7.30
Brief wakings at 11 and 12
Fed and Medised at 1
Fed at 4 but v unsettled until brought him into bed at 5.30, where he fell asleep straight away
Up for the day at 7.30

Seems like we have been giving him Medised at night forever, but he has still got a v tickly cough which keeps bothering him.

added 2 pics of ds from halloween. we went to a family day at the folk museum and he was the only child not in halloween costume!

Ooo, he's proper scrummy Tam.

He's lush Tamdin!

cute! i love his beanie.

Meg, glad to hear your night improved, hope DS continues to be on the mend.

Tam, your DS is gorgeous. I just want to kiss his little cheeks!

Just started a new thread on "Going back to work" here it is if you want to take a peek.

It's what's on my mind today.

((hugs))

thank you all. a shameless fish for compliments!!

that's right amber. it's good for if your shoulders ache formt he previous day of bwing non-stop lol.

just been to a m&t's near me, the leader is a f/ing biatch, idiot!grrr but one of the dads that goes is well lush and was telling us all about the sea surges nr us, just went to have apeek and it;s really high! fantastic waves what with the wind

Xpost p.s both kids in bed, just made a hot choc and threw olads of marshmallows in....mmmmm anyone else want one?