Babies Born April 2008 #5

[Nettie]

Poor Russell (and Zennie!)... hope there's improvement soon.

to you Nessa. I hope your parents are supportive of YOU and they don't make you feel vunerable for being just you and the kids... Hope you enjoy the circus!

[BabyWrangler]

Hugs to Zennie, Russell and Nessa!

On our front, I think El Piggyoli was the result of a growth spurt!
After going to bed at 5pm last evening, BJ has been as follows:
10:30pm Bottle
11pm sound asleep!
2:30am Bottle
3am Sound asleep
7am Awake and playing
8am Bottle
8:05 sound asleep!
10:30am Bottle then playing, and trip out in the car
12pm Asleep in car
12:30 bottle (in about 3 shifts!)
1pm sound asleep
and now, here I am at 4:30 waiting for him to wake up for a feed and a play and a bath, then probably bed!
He's sleeping through toys with bells and buttons jinggling and crashing their way around the dryer at the moment!
He's taken to sleeping on his "taggie" a nice soft blanket which is minky soft (same as my dressing gown) on one side, and flannelette on the other, and i have sewn little 1inch long tags of coloured ribbon in all different sizes and textures around it (he holds the taggies).
He has a little one from his very special Auntie hanging in his pram (she's also making a couple more "good" ones), and I have made him 2...he;s a chucker, in about 3 days they'll all be in the wash at once...god help me that day!!

Off to do some ironing while I wait! (Have already done a load of washing, made his second taggie, washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and cleaned up all the sewing mess!)

[Sharon19270]

Nettie it was only about 3 weeks ago when Oliver was only having between 90-110ml at each feed and some feeds where only 70 or 80 ml so you may find that Liam will increase in a few weeks, as long as he is gaining weight it doesn't matter.
Fire how are Ci's pox going, hope you don't get them too.
BabyWrangler if Oliver wakes really early in the morning I don't make eye contact or talk to him because he will give me that huge grin and start flapping his arms about and kicking his legs because he is so excited, if I just put the dummy in, stroke his head once, go shhhh, and walk out he will normally go back to sleep. I can't wait for the giggles, they are just so adorable. The 'taggie' sounds really cute, nothing like a home made toy/blankie, I can't sew to save my life
alittlegrubi I still have good days, bad days and then REALLY bad days, but the REALLY bad days aren't happening as often.
laurab welcome to the thread, there are a few 1st time mums here, I am now up to #3 and there will definitely be no more.
MummyMeg I find that when Oliver is really over tired he makes a fuss about going to bed too, they just find it too hard to turn off.
Beatrix I am sure your parents wouldn't think you failed them, at least I hope not, as that is the last thing you need right now, hope they give you lots of support
Zennie hope your little man gets better soon.

Oliver was a good boy this morning, after altering his wrap slightly last night he wasn't able to escape so easily and slept until 6am, he then went back to bed at 7am and slept till 9.30am so mummy got to have another couple of hours sleep this morning which was fantastic.

[shellbell]

Hi all,

First day back at work today. Luke was such a good boy for his nan and it all went very smoothly. I managed to get away to feed him at lunchtime and that made it easier for me too. Anyway DH is waiting for the computer so will write later

[Butterfly_Princess]

Oh and i just realised she likes to be wrapped in one particular blanket. Had a bit of a horror day today coz we had to wash it and she just wouldnt sleep, when we had the wrap all dry and nice, wrapped her in it, into cot, dummy, sleep. So im thinking its that, or the fact that i played with her heaps and heaps and heaps before feed, then sleep.
What time do you girls start the day routine (feed, play, sleep) and what time do you start the night routine (feed, sleep)??

[Sharon19270]

shellbell glad to hear that Luke was a good boy for his nan, and that was great that you got to go and feed him at lunch time, still it must have been hard leaving him though to go back to work
MummyMeg don't really have a feed, play sleep routine with Oliver yet as he is a catnapper and also first thing in the morning he doesn't want to feed straight away, he likes to play for about 15-20mins, he then has his bottle, goes back to bed for an hour, gets up and plays for an hour, back to bed, up for bottle etc, he then usually has his bath at around 5.00-5.30, he is dressed in his jammies and then has his bottle and is usually asleep by the time I am finished wrapping him at around 6ish.

Nothing much to report with me, just the "same stuff, different day"

[alittlegrubi]

I haven't got much time tonight - fighting off colds in our household ATM. But I just wanted to comment on shellbell's first day at work

Hi all,

First day back at work today. Luke was such a good boy for his nan and it all went very smoothly. I managed to get away to feed him at lunchtime and that made it easier for me too.

I just wanted to give you a and a for a wonderful job well done and on getting to feed at lunchtime. Once you get into the swing of your new routine you'll be more comfortable with the choices we are forced to make as working mums.

I need to work on expressing off just enough to cover 24 hours as my Mum is taking the 2 kids overnight on Saturday for DH's b'day. Partially looking forward to it, partially not. Knowing that engorged feeling is going to wake me is making me wonder if it is worth it.

[Nettie]

Meg - we keep Liam wrapped at night and try to get him to go back to sleep during the feed. He's a good boy and doesn't give us much trouble (except when we have to change his nappy - then he wakes up and we have a cuddle!)

Shell - comiserations on having to go back to work At least it seems to have been minimally traumatic!

Well, we put the cot together last night (see new pic in gallery) and he seems to really like it. Have put him down for sleeps all day in the cot but will keep him in basinette in our room for the night sleeps (when we're in bed). Hopefully he won't find that too confusing! Only trouble is the lamp we have in his room throws the light right over the cot so we'll have to move it (and the cot sits between the two power points in the room so we'll need an extension cord!).

When he wakes up in the cot - he just starts 'talking' to the mobile hanging above him! It's sooo cute! He's such a happy boy! I'm so lucky.

[sarah_dobbo2]

Morning all,

Just quick update...

Put cot together on Sunday, have only put Wyatt in it to have a play with his toys. (mobile, activity centre - tied onto cot Plastic).

Have noticed when I am at home and inforce a routine, he is just wonderfully. Even slept his 7hr last night before his boobie. But am going to risk it today.

I have to go and get some more ceiling paint, as kids bedroom wardobes go in on Thursdays, the there is blue walls and ceiling behind the old crabby built-in their now. So rip it down tonight, give it a coat of paint, another coat 2 morro and have new ones in on Thursday. Am so excited I'll be able to get better orgainsed in house. Will be more room in kids bedrooms. I just have to get ready so when he wakes up we get in car and do all the things I have to within an hour and half tops. Be back at home so my preious can go back to sleep.

Nettie We are going to do the same, try and put him in his cot during the day sleeps, and with us of a night time. Not sure how is will go, as its so much bigger...

Grubi: That will be good you get a night off, to spend some alone/adult time with DH. But I am like you, would be worried to leave them all night.

Shell: Glad to hear you first day back went so well. Esp that your mother is helping you, you will have piece of mind knowning she is with family. Did you feel more like a human again? I cant wait till my boys are both at school for me to go back to work. To do other stuff beside house work....
* I understand some mothers have to go back to work ASAP. But there isn't any way I could do it leaving my baby with a complete stranger at a daycare centre where he could catch anything. And they don't know the specail way he go to sleep or the specail way he likes to be cuddled. I would just be worried all day.

Meg: my first DS has his teddy, and it's so cute he rub's Beckette (teddy name) on his noise, has done since he wasn't wrapped up at about 9months old.
* TIP: try and buy same one and swap them around, so you can wash one.

Sharon: How are you copping with the same old stuff? There are little buggers when they escape from their wraps. If wyatt does then I have to re-wrap him and he wakes up more which mean longer to get back to sleep for both of us.


Oh yeah on Cong to Keith and Nicole having a baby girl. Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. What wonderful news, they seem such a wonderfully down to earth couple (aussie).

Well better get off, let the rat race for today being...
Cheers all
Sarah

[Fire]

Meg, not sure when we start the day, because it kinda goes:

6.30 - feed but looking at window, knowing it's morning
7.00 - stops feeding, closes eyes
7.30 - giggles and cuddles, cue him to poo and he may or may not do one (in a little bucket) nappy and new suit on the edge of bed, down to nana's for nana time while mama eats with DD.

I guess I'd call the 7.30 part the start of the day, but we're definitely "awake" before that, but both of us too damned lazy to do anything about it. Play is still on a body here, on a lap, or in arms or in sling. Although recently, I've put him on the play mat on the floor but it weirds him out. Too much stim and he can't take it for long. Then we do a mini feed when he starts to grizzle and then sleep. At night, there isn't a routine, and I can't stand it. I'm trying to implement one but DH has him at that time while I deal with DD. At the moment, the only cue he has that it's sleep time is that it is darker, dinner is being eaten at 5pm and we have a bath sometime around 6pm. He sleeps on the couch while DH surfs online and is brought to me at each hunger wake. So there is no "bed" to have bedtime for. I must change that soon.

Which reminds me, I'm getting a tetra bed. Anyone used one? His cot overwhelms him, so I need to "shrink" it for him, and this will come in handy when we eventually bring him into the family bed. He's a big boy though, so I hope they're big!

Who does night time nappy changes? I... don't. Bad mummy. He goes 12 hours sometimes in the same nappy (he has feeds in that time, just isn't awake). He hasn't had a rash or anything, but has soaked through his clothes at times but I use two boosters now and that has curtailed that. Tell me someone else does that so I don't feel so bad.

Michelle, that's cool about how it all worked out for you!

Nettie, your cot looks just like ours.

Can you all keep me updated on how your cot transitions go? What works, what doesn't, etc. We are cot napping, co night sleeping too so I'm interested how others take to it. Ci only does one half hour stint before he wakes and until I can brave putting him in awake over and over until he sleeps, that's probably all I'll get.

Does expressing mess with your supply? I'm worried about getting too much milk again, now that my supply has chilled a bit. But I want to build a freezer supply, but don't want my body to go nuts replacing all that milk that His Chokeness has to deal with. Is there a best way to do it?

[mgm]

dd is still sick. she has an endless cold and cough. nights have not been too good recently - extra wakings, lots of kicking. last night she managed to ditch her socks and savage me with her razor-sharp toenails.

fire i try not to do nighttime nappy changes, unless i hear her doing a poo. they're too disruptive. sometimes if she seems very awake anyway i'll take the opportunity to change her nappy, but otherwise she just has to wait til morning. i guess i'm a member of the bad mums' club too!

meg we start the day around 7.30 or 8. i often think dd would sleep longer if i stayed in bed, but my getting up usually wakes her. no real routines around here - if dd's awake when ds has his bath she has one too (around 7.30pm). time of starting her long stretch of sleep (usually lasts 5 hours) is completely unpredictable - can be around 8.30pm, but often she will cry and doze for hours before we finally manage to get her to sleep at 10.30 or 11pm. Those nights are awful!

since dd's still playing happily on the floor i'm going to try have breakfast now. have a good day everyone!

[Zennie]

Whatever my Boy has is know going around. Bummer! so tired and drained. on the upside he is getting better and is back to sleeping through the night from 8:30 pm till 4:30 - 5am.feed and then sleep till 8am though its still not enough sleep for me as i really need a decent recovery Sleep.

I am in the bad mums club aswell, i wont wake him to change him. and if hes not fully awake at 5 for his feed ill leave him be and hes not getting any nappy rash, but definetly lets me know that its time for a clean bum.

He is getting so strong and its hard to give him his nasal drops and hes getting a complex so back off on the freq as he was freaking when i layed him down to feed thinking was going to put snasties in his nose.

O well the wonders of motherhood

[sarah_dobbo2]

Fire: See there are a few of us in the "bad mummy club". Well I don't see it as that, I see it as a smart club. I am like everyone else, unless Wyatt is really away I'm not going to wake him to change him, 'cos then I will be up with him for a hour or so until he wears him self out. No rash no grizling to get it changed but we start the day around 6-7am. So it's not long from his 4-5 feed.

MGM: We start day around 6-7 awake playing with toys on floor or walking around with mum getting house tidy up. Then back to bed around 8-8:30 then sleeps to 10-11 again up for another hour or 2. Then back to bed for nap. Wakes around 3-4pm awake for another 2 hrs max then off for little nap before I wake him up around 6pm so he has play on mat or with silbings, before he has a bath around 7-7:30 then off to bed by 8-8:30. He's sleeps until around 4-5 might wake for a little top up around 2 but have start to go though until 4 again which is GREAT. Then day starts all over again. When Wyatt on playmat on floor I normal let him have 20minutes 'Free Willy' time. Help's wear him out more...

Cheers
Sarah

[Butterfly_Princess]

Thanks girls,
Isabell seems to get up and stay up around 10amish, i have tried getting her to stay up from 6am onwards but she just zonks out. She goes to sleep for her long period (6ish hours) at about 9pm, or by about 9pm, sometimes its a bit earlier.
At what age do they start grasping things consciously?? And is there anything one can do to promote it?? I put her fave soft plush rattle on her tummy and she will kinda hug it and pull it up to her mouth and have a bit of a chew on its ear lol.
Im being sent a refferal to a physio for Isabell, coz she seems to refuse to face to her left, we thought when the chiro fixed her skull aligmnment it woul dhelp, well it has, she will look left, but she wont keep it left. I spoke to MCHN and she said it could be that one of her muscles are stronger or tighter than the other. I didnt think so but now i do. I just had Isabell on her tummy, and noticed when she was lifting her head up she wouldnt look left at all, and she will only just look forwards. So now i think i will take her to the physio. She does the same when we are holding her to our chest, she will only look right.

Sorry for the lack of personals girls, ive been keeping my bubba busy so its easier to get her down for sleeps.

[Fire]

Meg, that's interesting about not looking left. Ci had an issue with feeding on my right side, and a few other "sided" issues. I always meant to get him chiro'ed but we got so disappointed by his first visit we didn't go again. We should though.

I keep hearing all these babies going up to two hours awake. Ci starts grizzling at half an hour, max. I've tried to change things around just in case he's bored, putting him on the floor, swing chair or just taking a little walk but he seems to really mean it - "I'm tired". Which seems so short for three months. I thought he'd happily be up for an hour or two by now.

I put him in the cot awake today but he still only took half an hour. It was a crap day. Two half hour naps and I resigned to him in the sling (and here he still is, sleeping happily). I'm getting frustrated with it. I know he knows best where he wants to be, but this frontal carrying is stupid - we're the only culture that carries babies slung on the front. Other cultures are hip or back. And he can't do the ergo yet so we are seriously between carriers right now. Too big for the frontal, too young for back carry. And even if he could go on the back, I doubt he'd sleep there. I can't see that happening. Plus I wouldn't be able to sit down! So I will save that for awake time. But that means he really HAS to get used to the cot and do more than one cycle. I'm really neglecting DD and if DH weren't here, I don't know how I'd do all this. Other women have toddlers and manage a baby, how? DD occupies herself while I spend HOURS a day in the room trying to settle him. It isn't fair on any of us. I don't think I could go much longer with this cat napping rubbish, he is never truly rested and I'm never finished "settling" him that way.

Someone tell me they grow out of this! I get so disheartened when I read online all these mothers having the same problems with 6 or even 18 month olds.

[Zennie]

Janine - Russell cat naps all day long when ever he feels like it , i have given up on a daytime routine and stick with the night/ morning routine. some days its great hell be awake and sleep for 2 hours at 12 and then 30 min at 5 otherdays he will wake the minute i put him down . its really touch and go. Are you putting him down on a play matt with toys or just on the floor? have you tried putting in a window just to watch the light or trees? Are you st uck inside like the rest of us with the cold weather. Russell loves being outside,but with the wet and cold weve been confined to the house and its really making us both miserable. maybe you could get down on the floor with him to help him adjust. its sounds almost like seperation anxiety.

[alittlegrubi]

Fire

Tell me someone else does that so I don't feel so bad

.
You are definitely not alone - I agree with Sarah it's the smart club rather than the bad mummy club in so much as if they don't need to be changed, why wake them up by making them cold in the process. I want as much sleep as I can get.
Greer is half cot half co-sleeping with me. I put her down in the cot at 7-7.30pm and she will stay there until 10-11pm, I might put her back depending on how I feel for the next sleep but haven't managed to get up again with the 2-4am feed to put her back in the cot. I find when they are sick it can be harder to settle them.
Fire When you say Ci grizzles is he still asleep or is he open eyed grizzling? I find if I ignore the closed eye grizzles she settles herself off again.
I guess it depends on the baby as to when they self settle. DS was still needing to be settled during the night up to 14 months old, yet DD seems much better. It will happen eventually. I think I said in another post that I am stretching over the cot with the boobie if needed to get her to settle. I'd even suggest getting him to sleep in your arms or sling or however you currently do and transferring him to the cot you might get more than 30 minutes.
I am going with the 30 minute sleeps and bringing her out if she wakes and then when she falls off to sleep in my arms putting her back so you gets used to the cot as her sleep place.
Now my way may not work for you, so work with what keeps you calm, Your mood can affect them settling too I've found.
This might sound strange - but I think the biggest secret to getting Ci to settle is for you to start believing that he can. I know what you mean though about spending hours in a room settling and feeling bad - I do especially when I end up growling at DS because he made a sudden noise at that crucial settling moment.
Better go and spend some time with DS since DD is asleep and DH is not home yet.

[Butterfly_Princess]

Fire what were you disappointed by?? My chiro was telling me that some ppl expect immediate results, but he says that rarely happens and that it can take up to 5 visits. Its something one needs to persist with.

Girls, im worried, im starting to think about #2 now. I cannot wait. Ive even started temping. Am i crazy??