SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK PART 8 -- Pack the bags under your eyes and join us!

[RoRoMommy]

Well...I had to think of something! DH's suggestion "Eyes wide shut--the art of sleepwalking"

Hope DS had a lovely 1st birthday Meg and you all stuffed yourself with cake!

Hi everyone. Good night last night, pants the night before! Hope you're all ok

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. You can see a pic of the cake on my profile!

for those of you with teething woes. After five coming through since Xmas we seem to be having a break. This morning he slept in til we got him up at 7.45 -- bliss!

In other news, I have got a job interview in a couple of weeks . It's a p/t subbing job, at a company I used to work for a few years ago (a different magazine though), working Mondays and Tuesdays. I applied kind of on the spur of the moment, I think I could manage two days a week and we would probably look at placing DS with a childminder for a few hours each of those days (DH could look after him before and after).

So my question to EP, Ginger and other childcare users is, how do your LOs nap at the CM/nursery? I have only just got DS self-settling at home for his nap, I'm not sure he'd willingly go to sleep somewhere strange!

Meg: well done on getting the interview . Hope it goes well. Re: the CM, to start with DS slept better with her, now it's a it more hit and miss (as it is when he's at home, have a nasty feelin ghe might be dropping the daytime nap soon ). He also eats really well with her, poss cos he is eating with other kids (they do playgroup/toy library depending on the day and he eats with her family at tea time). It's a good thing to ask a potential CM about - how she'd get him to nap - but you'll prob find he settles into his own routine for those days.

and the reason I am up at this hour is DS and I suffering with lurgy - he's coughing int hte bedroom (thankfully not waking up) and I'm sitting here waiting for the paracetemol to kick in so I can get some sleep!

Congrats on the interview Meg, I agree with EP. My main concern was the napping thing and it did take her a few weeks before she got herself into a routine but now sleeps really well at nursery. At nursery they have little mats and she goes and curls up on one herself. Before that the nursery staff would hold her or sit with her and rub her back until she was asleep. I'm not denying that it is a little stressful for all concerned for a short while but they very quickly adapt. Like EP said, having other children around is a great way for them to 'learn the ropes' as it were.

We had a sleep through last night although woke early at 5.15 why oh why oh why oh why........

EP, hope you're feeling better soon

Congratulations on your sleep through Ginger! We were up at five as well (we need an exhausted emoticon). Stayed home from from thanks to lurgy, but didn;t get much rest thanks to DS who was also ill enough not to go to the CM's. DH was out at a meeting so lots of sitting on the sofa watching DVDs .

EP, how much do you pay for your childminder? Just trying to work out the maths of returning to work...

Also, does anyone else have screechy tantrums at mealtimes? These have just started, if I try DS on something new and he doesn't like it, he then screams through the rest of the meal (even the food I know he likes) as if I'm trying to poison him

Last night we had a waking at 3 which is v unusual, I went in but he wasn't really awake, just lying on his front and wailing (perhaps he was dreaming that I was trying to feed him something he doesn't like). He made up for it by sleeping til 8am, though

am assuming that this thread is for those of us with little darlings who don't sleep? lol
was just about to start one myself, but don't need to.
I'll introduce myself
Hi, I'm fingerwoman and my ds2 does NOT sleep.

actually, he does kind of sleep at night, but wakes at least every 2 hours to feed, then takes forever to settle. so last night I had bouts of 45 mins between feeds/settling. argh

tell me you learn to live with the sleep deprivation?

How old is your little one fingerwoman?

You do adapt to it. You don't stop being psychotic feeling tired but you can function during the day on amazingly little sleep. For at least 7 months - beyond that I don't know!

Hope you guys are all good? Tits up here again but hey, it will pass

he's only 18 weeks, so still little but I am already suffering from the sleep deprivation lol.

Hello Fingerwoman . Yes, you cope with sleep deprivation but when things improve you wonder exactly how you managed!

Meg: we pay £41 per day, not including food, 8am - 6pm. If you want some more advice on finding and interviewing CMs, try posting a question on the CM and nannies board - they were v helpful when I was looking. I'd say look for someone who belongs to the local childminding network and does lots of activities with other CMs out of the house - you'll then get standard contracts and terms and conditions which makes things much easier and there's a backup system in case things go wrong (which hopefully they won't!). Just be as clear as possible with what you want and what you expect from your CM and make sure she is equally clear with you . Good luck! When is the interview?

Still doing 5am wakeups here - think I need a new strategy besides hiding until I can't stand the noise anymore - any ideas?

Hello all, we're having some odd nights at the mo. as DD has given up her dummy well, she's not asked for it the last two nights and has gone to sleep without a whimper but she is definately more restless during the night, crying out on and off, a quick cuddle is settling her but she's still up at 5.30. I'm not giving it to her during the day at the moment (apparently she never uses it at nursery) and this nap was hard as we were out and she just howled in the buggy, wouldn't relax without it so I had to carry her home and she fell asleep on me (still dummyless) well, we'll see. My resolve isn't really that strong and she loves the thing just thought that while she seemed to be volunteering it's demise at night I'd try during the day. This is my last hope with sleep. That tiny bit of me that clings to a new theory, tactic or idea, believes that if we do dump it, we'll all sleep better as a result.

EP, I wish there was an answer to the early rising however, I suspect it's 'just a phase' and I hope it will pass. It's just not funny when you're all up, breakfasted, washed and dressed and ready to start the day and it's only 7 oclock! DD was playing in the garden at 8 oclock yesterday morning which would be fine if it was summer.

DS ill, not sleeping at all, back in bed with us last night. Gah. Hope this phase is a short one .

Well done Ginger's DD for giving up on the dummy .

Just had a giggle at this post, glad I am not alone, with an 8 wk old baby with sleeping all over the place, I feel like I am walking on sponge.. Anyone relate to that?? god help me when its the teething stage and I am back at work maybe I should jump off a cliff now and be done with it!!

Any new mums here feeling the pain?!? i'm a new mum and havent a clue what I amn doing and beginning to wish me and my partner were a bit more careful..lol!!

Wurlywoo, I think with the exception of Charliemama we're all first timers. Ours are a little older now but we can still remember that stage. It wil get better. Take each day as it comes and DO listen when people tell you to rest when baby sleeps and give up the house work for a couple of months. You won't realise the importance of that advice until it's too late!! Good luck.

Day 4 of no dummy going well so far but I said to DH I won't count on her (and me) forgetting it until a couple of weeks have passed. She goes seem to be a different child at the moment though. Much more contented. Not sure what's happened but she moves to the bigger class at nursery this week so I hope that doesn't throw the proverbial spanner.

gingerninja, how true is your advice, truth is I havent been sleeping when she does because I begrudge giving up things in the day.. guess I need to change my attitude, I did learn the hard way the other week and it caught up with me and then I felt like I was back in my clubber days having been up all weekend! ha ha

Wurlywoo, I understand, I felt the same. The reality is though that you'll get some 'normality' back with time so just try and relax and enjoy these first few months, they are tough but if you go with the flow, don't fight it and just do what ever it takes to maximise your rest time you'll benefit. It won't be long before you lo is sleeping less during the day and will want lots of entertaining so you won't be able to lounge around. Make the most of this time.

Def agree with resting while you can, Wurly

Much better night last night for us, one brief waking a 1amish. Which prob means the 18 month regression will be hitting us later

Hope everyone enjoying the sunshine

absolutely awful night last night. DD has a terrible eczema flare up ATM. Can only think it's related to teething, cannines on the way. But it made for a very restless little girl, not to mention the hour or so coughing. She's got a cold too. Boo Hoo. Funnily enough I feel ok despite having approximately 4 (broken) hours sleep.

(pokes head in and waves)

Very quick post. Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I think it's a combination of going back to work and DS being easier at night, but demanding during the day.

I just wanted to you all to know that I am still around but I tend to lurk more at the moment. Hopefully things will have settled down soon and I might be able to find some time to write a decent post.

I am thinking of you all and wishing you all lovely sleepy nights.

Ps. Hello wurly. It does get better I promise it just feels like you'll always have a newborn at the moment, but soon your lo will be moving around and before you know it they'll be at school!! My eldest is 4 and I remember when he was tiny and not being able to comprehend when I would ever feel normal again. But it must have got better cos I went on to have 2 more!!

Morning all!

Like CM, I'm back at work so finding it really hard to get any time to catch up and post.

I hope you're all getting decent kip and the unsettled nights from earlier in the week have made way for long and peaceful ones!

Ups and downs here, still racked with terrible wind in the night at times but DP appears to have cracked the daytime naps things and some days has DS sleeping for over 2 hours at a time I was obviously doing something fundamentally wrong

Anyway, sending good vibes to you all

Hey CM and IARC, hope you're both settling back into your work OK. I think it helps with the sleep deprivation in some ways because you just haven't got time to obsess about it. Still, sounds like you're making progress. Long may it continue.

IARC, is it something he's eating or a milk alergy or something?

Rose: DS naps much better for DH as well. Think it;s because he knows I'll feed him as a last resort .

Not been around much either, work busy and trying to get a bit of peace at home! Hope you;re all OK and not too windblown or flooded out...