Happy Australia day everyone, hope you're all having a great day
Went shopping today, got a BF pillow from Target, thanks Bex & also got a wrap me up swaddle from Baby Bunting, hoping it helps bub to sleep longer. I got a sleep positioner too, does anyone use one of these?
Also I was going to ask if anyone else has trouble getting their bubs to sleep? Quite often I know S is overtired so I wrap her, hold her & comfort her to sleep etc but she can cry for 20mins on and off, drifting in & out of sleep before she falls into a deep sleep. She fights sleep alot, is this normal and it happens like clockwork every night before her big sleep. How do you girls handle this?
Babyluv Georgia fights sleep too (too curious for her own good, she doesn't wanna sleep and miss out on anything!) I find walking around with her all cuddled up in my arms gives her the comfort she's looking for and the walking/swaying sends her to sleep. Not ideal in the middle of the night but works for me, good luck!
Bex bathtime is great here, I havnt tried showering with her and probly won't (shower time is my break time!) she used to cry in the bath but now we've figured out she likes the water a bit deeper and a bit warmer than body temp she loves it, we even got smiles the whole bathtime today!
Not sure if I should be doing anything reflux wise for G, she vomits and hiccups alot but it doesn't last ages or anything.
Have put some new pics on FB, check out the one of her lifting her whole upper body up off the playmat! So proud of my little monkey, she's asleep naked on my belly ATM, I'm scared she's gonna poo on me!
Little_mrs: Hun I don't think vomiting is a worry if she is gaining weight & hiccups are fine too if neither of them worry her.
If S hasn't had her Zantac the hiccups are accompanied by constant screaming because she is bringing up acid. Does G scream when she has the hiccups or vomiting?
Hope you don't get pood on hehe
Saw the photos, what a clever chicken!
Babyluv- in your case of S fighting sleep i dont really get it from K but just a question, does she get lots of stimulation through the day?? (talking too, tummy time ect..)
in your case i know it would be hard BUT she needs to learn controled crying and learn to settle herself to sleep i know it will be hard to listen to her screaming/crying but honestly later on it'll make it easier for you
Goodluck hun, another thing if you dont want to hold her maybe ry bringing ur pram inside and push her around in that, just an idea
How do we handle it? more then likely we have lost it just like you, no one is perfect hun when it comes to having patience with a constant screaming baby, K is my second and its still frustrating at some points..I'm sure the more you have the easier it might get but just stay strong you will get through this it does get easier as they get older
Mrs- the vomitting: is G over filling herself so shes bloated?? sometimes when they have wind they they can vomit too just keep an eye on her... If they have a bubble of wind and then they eat the milk sits ontop of the bubble and when they bring it up they can bring the milk up too
I have figured K hates the heat, he prefers to be inside wit the aircon on
Mizqtie: thanks for your suggestions, Dh and I have decided not to do controlled crying methods, we are going for a more comforted approach
Sometimes when she's really overtired, well i assume its overtiredness, but could be wrong, she will cry for up to an hr in my arms, usually 15-20 mins but sometimes an hr and I was hoping there was something we could do before she gets to this point of tiredness, wether it's too much stimulation during the day or at bedtime etc but we are doing what we can such as dimmed room, quiet time, warm bath, shooshing, patting, a loving approach to sleep if that makes sense. just wondering if anyone else is having similar issues & has found a gentle approach that seems to be working? I don't want to put her to bed and let her cry it out, even her crying in my arms for a while makes me feel like a mean mum!
Babyluv: I find C is the same... hard to get to sleep and won't do it without us holding her. I find that if I get her kinda asleep, I put her down but keep my hand on her tummy and rock her.. she grizzles for a bit but eventually goes to sleep. If she gets too upset I just pick her up and rock her for a bit, then put her back down again.
I am not a fan of controlled crying, I thought I would do it before I gave birth, but with having her here, it just doesn't feel right. I let her cry for maybe a minute before picking her up, sometimes a little longer but I am there with my hand on her shh'ing her so she knows I am still there...
Babyluv- i might sound harsh here and i didnt like feeling like a mean mum either BUT honestly ever heard of "tough love" its true, i couldnt stand listening to Zak scream/cry but you get to the point where if you dont your constantly patting that child to sleep everynight and it can lead you to getting even more frusrated as that could take upto an hour sometimes....Im not saying to let her scream for the whole hour coming from DOCS they told me to do this but to go back in every 5 mins and just reassure them that your still there and your not going anywhere....I tried the comforting thing because my baby crying to me was a big NO NO so we tried the patting to sleep the whole lot and the best thing i found that worked for us was Read on and you will see ,
Maybe some music? this is my FAVOURITE soothing thing, Zak eventually use to go to sleep with a soothing music playing and it had a projector on it that displayed pictures onto the roof or wall (from kmart if i remember rightly for about $50, this is going back 3yrs ago almost though) that seemed to settle him and i used it for a VERY long time!!! I know ou can also buy some soothing baby music CD's actually i think i have one somewhere i will have a look tomorrow if you would like me to post it to you saves you buying one
Do you have a Rocker??? i had a vibrating rocker and Zak loved it, it would calm him down alot
Is S still getting wrapped up tightly? is she too cold??
In the long run, sometimes its about just rotating things to find out what S likes best, and keeps you stress free too, cause its not just all about keeping baby quiet and happy, you need to think of yourself also
I did this with Zak everything was him him him and never ME, in the end i ended up with depression that i only just got over before i fell pregnant with Kaidyn and the way i solved it was by taking time out for MYSELF treating myself to things....This also applies to as they get older too
Ever heard of "you learn from your mistakes?" well you definently learn from your mistakes with children, i most certainly have with Zak....1 big mistake i have done was i didnt want food all over my carpet so i fed him breakfast/dinner right up until about 2yr old and now even to this day (almost 3) he refuses to feed himself breakfast or dinner, he wants us to do it all the time and we are having a VERY hard time getting him to do this!
Most of all coming from my midwife yesturday majority of babies are unsettled from 6wks onwards and they just like to be comforted, in the long run you WILL find whats best for you and S
im really sorry for sounding like a bossy boots, just trying to help from all my experiences...NEVER FEEL OBLIGED (SP?) TO DO THEM!
P.S - i will allow you to tell me to shut up by the way lol
Last edited by mummy of 3 boys; January 26th, 2011 at 08:32 PM.
Another thing that works for us - although a controversial one - is the dummy. G will be fed, clean and burped but still wanting to suckle for comfort, with the dummy and a cool dark room with some music on she settles herself. When she's asleep I go and take the dummy off her so she gets used to waking up without it and it's working well, she'll wake up without the dummy and not stress and just go back to sleep if everything else is all good. That's why right now I'm lucky enough to have finished the housework and sat down to relax with a cup before I go to bed! Hope you find something that works for you.. Have you tried putting a radio on for her??
Mizqtie: thankyou so much for your advice, gosh lots of things there I can try, like you said I guess I need to try out different things to discover what works for us
I like the music idea, maybe something soft playing in the background will be soothing. My mum said the same thing it's trial and error, especially with your first & the mistakes you make now you learn from & that makes it easier 2nd time round.
Little_mrs: dummies are quite controversial hey but we are using one, when she will take it hehe. She's funny sometimes she loves the dummy & it does work well to soothe her but then other times she decides no way! She's so fussy. Sounds so nice to be able to clean up & then sit down with a cuppa & relax, there have only been a handful of occasions where she has slept soundly alone. DH is back at work next week so I'll have to try and get her to sleep in her bassinet more, I'm persevering with the dummy & I'll try the radio or a nice cd
We sometimes feed to sleep which is naughty
Thanks for the advice ladies, what would I do without your help xo
Babyluv: bout 90% of the time I feed to sleep.. Whatever gets her to sleep works for us!! The thing I Learnt from my big rant thread was never to feel bad for doing things...
If it's using a dummy, who cares...
If it's feeding to sleep, who cares...
Whatever keeps you both happy at this stage should be what you do. She is so little... And you are a brand new mum, like you said trial and error, once you find something that works go with it. It won't Hurt her to feed to sleep. She will learn to fall asleep without it, if you are worried tho, only do it sometimes...
babyluv- it is all trial and error and when u find something you will ALWAYS use it to put her to sleep
Your mum is spot on when she said about learning from your mistakes with your first, your first is all about learning and most definently know what to do and what not to do the next time around when it comes to certain things
I honestly do apologise if i sound like a know it all or a bossy boots, as mentioned ive been there before and i know how hard it is, i must say i was alot younger i only just turned 21 the day before i had Zak so it was very hard, but with also saying that ive noticed it doesnt matter what age you are it can just be hard in general! But you learn to pull through WE ARE MUMS AND WE ARE STRONG! i believe if you can raise a baby you can do anything cause raising a baby is bloody hard work!
PLUS what works for one baby may not work the second time around cause i know the vibrating rocker Kaidyn isnt very keen on it
Bex- You are also right, who cares about what people say when it comes to feeding to sleep if thats what works then peace and quiet and sleep for mum is the best thing right now to keep mum sane....
I swore i would never co-sleep and guess what, ive been co-sleeping sometimes with Kaidyn just so i get some sleep, so what if others dont agree, your doing whats best for you (and bub of course)
Babyluv: Ivy can be quite unsettled at that time too, She likes to clusterfeed before bed, which is exhausting, she usually feeds every 2 hours from about 6, so at 6, 8 and 10, or 5, 7 and 9, so I get about an hours break in between, then she will sometimes fall asleep on the boob and sometimes need some walking around patting etc, DP sits on a fit ball and bounces on it while holding her and that gets her to sleep quickly. We did Save Our Sleep with DS (which is a method that lets them go to sleep themselves but a bit different to the go out and back in again approach of controlled crying - which I don't like), because he got too big to be bounced on the ball and it was torture for me, I couldn't deal with him crying, I had to sit outside the house and bawl while he screamed. But it did work, and it only took about 3 days. I think they are too little now for anything like that and comforting methods sit better with me. Am not sure if we will do the same with Ivy, but I agree with Mizqtie, you do learn a lot with your first baby and then when you have your second you know more about what you want to do and what you will be comfortable with and what you will try and what you don't. But I think you should do whatever suits you best, if she feeds to sleep, I can't see anything wrong with that, I think there is a reason they are so dopey after a feed
Mizqtie: Raising a baby is BLOODY HARD WORK isn't it...and raising 2 is even harder I am a lot more relaxed with Ivy than I was with DS and will co-sleep or not co-sleep and just generally have a better handle on things, it's so hard with your first because you have NO IDEA what you are doing. And no one can tell you what to do because everyone does things differently. How is Kaidyn doing on the gaviscon?
Bexie: I will feed to sleep at any opportunity it's just nicer and calmer I think. I often wonder how I would cope without ready made sleepers attached to my chest. Don't think I would do well at all. I'm so grateful for being able to BF. even if it is through a gaping open wound on one side!! The hand on her method is what they recommend to do at my hospital, they say to put one hand on the baby's chest and pat with the other hand. And a friend of mine had a sleep school specialist come to their house and that is what she taught them to do too, because my friend was adamant that there would be no controlled crying. And her daughter was almost 1 when they had the specialist come to them, she had previously been feeding every hour all night!!!!
LittleMrs: you sound so together and on to it, you must be a natural mother. I know I'm not. Did you get poo'ed on? I get poo'ed on all the time I seem to be a poo receptacle. How is your undercarriage? Any better?
Renee: Yay for Ava having such a big sleep! Good work. Everyone says big babies sleep longer from earlier on.
AFM: well, Ivy, the champion, slept for 8 hours last night, 10pm till 6am!!! I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning and it was daylight!!! DS did that from about 6 weeks but Ivy is on a whole new level! Went to the MCHN this morning and she has put on over 600gms. She is a growing machine. She even laughed for the health nurse which was lovely. She has been asleep nearly all morning too, I am hoping this behaviour keeps up, DS is at his nanna's today so I have all this time to do whatever I want - so I am on BB and FB of course! Have done a load of washing and been shopping for party stuff for DS's birthday party on the weekend.
Kirsten- i am alot more relaxed with kaidyn too then i was with Zak but Kaidyn is making things a little more stressful by me not being able to get him into a routine but im doing things differently this time eg- BFing
I think the Gaviscon is helping a little bit, he still cries but i think alot of it is the heat he seems to settle and sleep good with the aircon on poor little fella!
Oh and Kaidyn seems to be awake alot more then Zak was
and it was torture for me, I couldn't deal with him crying, I had to sit outside the house and bawl while he screamed. But it did work, and it only took about 3 days. I think they are too little now for anything like that and comforting methods sit better with me. Am not sure if we will do the same with Ivy, but I agree with Mizqtie, you do learn a lot with your first baby and then when you have your second you know more about what you want to do and what you will be comfortable with and what you will try and what you don't. But I think you should do whatever suits you best, if she feeds to sleep, I can't see anything wrong with that, I think there is a reason they are so dopey after a feed 
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