Babies Born ~ March 1st-15th 2010 #2

Hi All,

I kinda guess that Willow self settles sometimes as she does sleep for quite a while of a night (she must go through a few sleep cycles and put her self back to sleep) but during the day we only get one sleep cycle at a time out of her (around 40 minutes). She has settled into a bit of a pattern, 3 naps a day (nap = up to 40 minutes) after each feed and then most playtime of an evening when DH gets home and we put her down between 7-8pm each night, she sleeps till 2-3am and then will go back down after her feed till about 6am.
We have just started showering of a morning as Willow is so long she outgrew her baby bath rather quickly and our bathtub is HUGE so a waste of water (and my poor back) trying to bath her in there. She loves the shower so far. She showers each morning with Dad - gives DH some nice time with her before he heads off to work.

Had a lovely weekend.
Had a bit of pampering - a facial, eyebrow wax and eyelash tint. I feel like a million dollars. Must have needed it, as everyone I've run into since the pampering has said 'geeze, your looking good'. So yeah, hate to think what I've looked like up until now ... 9 weeks into this parenting stuff really takes it's toll on you!!!
Daily chores have taken a backseat in this household as well. I try to get a bunch done over the weekend and of an evening when DH is home. The rest of the time I just do what Willow wants to do, if she sleeps I will try to sneak in a load of washing here and there and I'm lucky that the sound of the vacuum cleaner actually settles her so I get the floors done most weeks.

I've decided to start buying slow cookers as baby shower gifts - honestly, ours has been used every week since Will was born. They are THE BEST.
DH actually bought me a slow cooker cook book as part of my Mother's Day pressie - there are some really fancy style dishes that can be cooked in them.

I went to the Baby Shower at my friend's place on the water yesterday - I was right, damn hilly area! No flat ground to park pram on - even the house had about 5 levels (all split levels with stairs and little fancy landings overlooking the gorgeous view).
Luckily DH was just wonderful and took Will while all the girly games were on (the boys played pool downstairs) so I had a chance to chat and enjoy the party without worrying too much about Will. Then we sat on the vernadah, overlooking the water and had a few drinks, it was just lovely. I am really enjoying motherhood, it just feels like I've got everything sorted - no more of the crazy hormones that plagued me in the early days.

We have had a busy few days here. Have had my SIL and my niece here since Thursday and it has been fun but full one with 2 toddlers, a new baby and a pregnant SIL.
Just got back from a visit in Byron to see my parents and the house my SIL is moving into. So nice down there.

Anyway Lennox is going great with Self settling as I see most of the bubs are too. He has been sleeping for a lot longer at the start of the night but still waking up for about 4 feeds a night.

I love showering with Lennox and he seems to love it too, he always smiles and chuckles to me while we are in there.
Oh he has just woken up and I am exhausted from the weekend but will get on here to catch up on some more posts as soon as I get a chance.

Thrilled - glad to hear you are feeling gr8 these days! sounds like a lovely day on Sunday. I am also glad to hear ur bubs only sleeps for 40ish mins in the day as that is exactly what Soph does and I wasabout to post how long everyone's bubs sleep in the day. My son slept in 45min naps until he was about 7 months and then his morning nap was longer.

So how long are you day sleeps and how often??

Soph is awake for 75-90mins, then sleeps for 40mins, then wakes for a feed (so feeds every 2.5 hrs ish in the day). She usually wakes in the morning at around 6.30-7 so her first sleep is around 8-8.30 and we go from there. It is roughly something like this:

So feed 7am - Sleep 8.15-9am
Feed 9.15ish - Sleep 10.30 - 11.15
Feed 11.30 - Sleep 12.45 - 1.30
Feed 1.45 - Sleep 3 - 3.45
Feed 4 - catnap of around 20 min at about 5 - then bath
Feed hourly from 6-8 and generally awake or little catnap
Sleep 8.30-9ish
Feed around 2.30-3
Wake 6.30ish.

So Soph has four sleeps and a catnap.

Yesterday and last night Soph flatly refused to sleep anywhere but my arms. She was cranky all day and would not have a bar of going into the basinett. I just gave it at around 9.30pm after about 90mins of trying to get her in and she slept with me all night. She actually woke for her first feed at 4am!! I tried to put her into her cot at 1.30 when I got up but she told me off!!!

Deedles - Your two are nearly exactly the same age difference as mine - Will was born 19/3/08 and Soph 1/3/10.

OMG we had the night from hell last night. DS2 is sick again !!!!
He has had croupy cough and had croup attack on Friday night. So not fun but has had heaps of them now so we try to sort him out before a hospital trip is needed. He now just has the nasty sounding bark but is coping with it.
Try as I might to keep him away from Peppar he is persistant and needless to say she is now sick too. Last night it must have really come on because she went to bed at 8 and I thought she would be down for the night as has been her pattern. Nup!
11pm she woke which completely threw me but I fed her and she would not go back down.
She wanted to sleep on me, and it had to be upright. She would not lie down at all! :wall: So my "sleep" last night was sitting up with her waking every 20 minutes very unsettled.
DH was working last night so when he got home at 6.30 this morning I all but threw her at him and said I need sleep!!
Then the little madam crashed out on him and slept soundly for two hours. She woke at 9am I fed her and she went straight back down again and is still asleep now. Maybe I should go in there and cry and scream at her :o lol
I hope this is just a one off and we are back to normal tonight. I am too used to my uninterrupted sleeps now for her to change her mind on me. :rolleyes:

I have been w/out a computer as my laptop is playing up..... am typing on a dodgy keyboard which takes forever so excuse the short msg.

Had an interesting wend- spent 4 hrs away from bub on sat doing some HypboBirthing study/revision in preparation for running my own classes, and poor DH had a screaming baby for 1.5hrs as he refused the bottle of my expressed milk (has taken it before but doesnt like it much - anyone have advice there ladies?) . We really need him to take the bottle so i can run my own business part time when DH is home from work.

Thrilled - i am also doing most of my housework on wends when DH is home its much quicker that way!

Anyway, chat soon when PC is fixed

PS> Have any of you found your bubs are needing sleep alot more know? Wonder if its just Ciaran but he is getting super cranky during the day when tired and needing sleeps every hour or so! Wowsers, about time....

We had a shocker night last night but it was due to Robert not wanting to sleep at all yesterday so I was expecting it. Today he's had two really big sleeps and has woken up happy each time - right now he's playing on his activity mat with his nappy off. While he was sleeping I got to get in about 4 loads of washing, vacuumed the floor, and cleaned both bathrooms and did a general tidy up. Plus I cooked up some mince for lasagne tonight - waiting for DH to get home before we "assemble" it (we always do that bit together).

Oh and lucky me (NOT!!) AF is hanging around - she hasn't put in a full appearance yet but she's on her way and I really wish she'd just stay away!

Sta. cey - Sorry to hear all are sick and you have had a shocker! Sounds like what has been plaguing our household.

Bree - My son never, ever took a bottle. I tried every type of bottle and teat and asked the nurses etc and they said some babies just don't take it. I hope this is not the case for you. I had to teach him to use a cup early - got a sippy cup with a straw at 4 months. I didn't go back to work until he was 9mths and he had formula in a sippy cup but breastfed overnight to make up for the missed feeds. Fingers crossed your bubs is more co-operative for you.

Cass - How I envy you that scenario!! Good for you!! Soph still refuses to go down for a sleep. DH got her in last night at 9pm but I had no luck all day. This morning I got her in at 8am but DH started running around with a container and woke her!! GRRR!! Here's hoping this is just a phase!!!

Sleeps are hit and miss with us.
In the early days Willow would just not sleep and I think that's why we had such a rough time for the first 6 weeks.
From about 6 weeks till now (9 weeks) Willow will generally sleep after each feed, however it's usually in the last hour before the next feed - so for example we last fed at 11am, she is due her next feed at 3pm (we are now 4 hourly between feeds) so she is now asleep and has been since a little after 2pm. This is her sort of routine, a 40 minute nap before each feed.
When she wakes we do a nappy change and then a feed.

Yesterday I scored a 2 hour sleep in the middle of the day.
Today, we have been up since 4:15am and not happy at all and it's obviously a non-sleeping day.
The sleep she is having now is the one and only sleep she has had all day.

I'm not sure when it settles into a more predictable routine - or if it ever will.
A friend of mine told me the other day that her baby has always been a low sleep needs kid. He was never in a routine and a routine would never have worked for them.
Not sure what I think about that - would that be possible ... never in a routine? Surely kid behaviour must fall into some rough type of predictable pattern?
I'm not asking for a rigid 'She sleeps from 10am - 2pm every day' ... but am counting on getting at least 2 sleeps out of her a day???

Our sleeps are a bit hit and miss too. The last few days have gone something like this:

Thursday - 2 big sleeps, then early to bed (he crashed at 5.30)
Friday - 1 big morning sleep, then we went out in the afternoon so it was just catnapping (again he crashed early!)
Saturday - 2 big sleeps plus an afternoon nap around 4. Bedtime at 7.
Sunday - totally crap day. Hardly any sleep at all, just catnaps! Early to bed and disrupted night ....argh!!!!!
Monday - (mummy gets serious!!) feed at 5am, back to bed until 8. Feed at 9 then in pram and slept for 2 hours. Feed at 12 a little play then another 2 hour sleep. Nap at 4. Bedtime at 7.
Today - feed at 5am, back to bed until 7.30. Feed at 9 then in pram and slept for 2 hours. Feed at 12 a little play and still sleeping (just over an hour so far).

With his morning sleep, which he definately needs, I give him a feed, swaddle him and put him in the pram. Then do what I have to do around the house or take the op to grab a shower and get dressed. By then he's starting to rouse from a sleep cycle. As he's in his pram, as soon as he starts to wake I head out of the house for a walk (usually down to the supermarket to get bits and pieces). By time I get back he's slept through another 45 minute sleep cycle and into his third. I find that after these big sleeps he wakes up happy and we have a little play together or read a book then I let him play on his mat.

I'm going to try to keep to this routine of two big sleeps plus an afternoon nap (just until he no longer needs that extra 45 minutes in the afternoon).

Also, he's 11 weeks tomorrow so I guessing we are nearly due for another growth spurt!!

Is anyone elses bub showing an interest in food? Robert eyeball's us when we are eating. The other morning he was watching every spoonful of porridge that went into my mouth and his little mouth was moving too! DH was having a yoghurt while nursing him and got the same treatment.

Hey, Poor lil Lennox has a bit of a cold atm. He is still feeding good which is great and still wakes up smiling and chatting.
We have been having great nights for the past few days. He will go to sleep at about 7.30pm then sleep to 3.30am, then he wakes up at 5 then is awake from 7am till 8am then has his beg morning sleep and then he has his awake time.
He seems to have gotten himself into a routine without me even trying.

My DS1 didn't take a bottle at all also. He wouldn't even take a dummy! Even expresses Breast milk he didn't like from a bottle.
I do agree that some babies just don't take bottles!

Wow Cass that is such a great idea about putting Robert in the pram and keep him moving around the house with you, you can probably get more done too!
I still swaddle Lennox too, though if he isn't ready to go to sleep he will wriggle and squirm till his hands get out.
I haven't noticed Lennox seeming interested in food yet, though he does love to watch everything we do.

LilsJula our lil ones are just about exactly the same age. Calin is 4/3/08 and Lennox 12/3/10. Never going to have a summer pregnancy again though!

Thrilled, DS1 never got into a routine and still isn't in one. He will just never do the same thing at the same time. He is a very cheeky lil fella and he seemed to be awake during the day so much more than Lennox.
Though this time around after 4 months we will be going into a bit of a strict routine, see if we can get our lives back a bit sooner this time around.

Cass - Gr8 idea re the pram to extend 4 a bigger sleep. Not quite sure how I would do something like that with toddler in tow...but food 4 thought...must be some way I can tailor it. I have a feeling Soph is going to be a catnapper!!!

Thrilled - re routines...I have had a routine for my son but I let him dictate it (ie. followed tired signs)...I always jotted down his sleeps and feeds and looked for a pattern. I watched for tired signs and compared these with published routines and through trial and error found he fitted with babybliss's times nearly always. However, the routines "get into a routine nicely" and then sleeping changes and the times shift again...and during this phase some days it is the old routine and some days the new one. So I essentially followed his signs but the routine kept me in check to ensure that he didn't get overtired and helped me plan appointments, outings etc and bubs comes to a point of not being so potable for sleeps (eg fall asleep in car, wake when you move them and they think that ten mins was there sleep - there is a phase that you just can't move them in sleep!!).

Deedles - I plan on never having any other pregnancy!! Two is more than a handful!! Love to hear of any tips you have that work re managing the two - whenever you find one!!

Soph was much happier yesterday - slept in cot (if only for 45mins) but she hadn't been out of my arms for 4 days straight. I thought about and thought perhaps it was something I was eating as she seemed to have tummy pains. Since mid last week, I had been drinking choc milk and having a beer in the evening so cut both out of Sunday and she was so so much better yesterday - so it was one of the two I would say. Stupid me - I knew chocolate and dairy set my son off - so I should have known better!!! Big reminder to watch my diet - some people seem to be able to have anything - not me - I guess either my kids have sensitive digestive systems or it is something about my milk production.

Toddler seems to be on the improve - but was seriously naughty yesterday!!! OMG! Give me strength for a battle today. All the positive and diversion strategies were simply rebutted by him and he was so oppositional. Fingers crossed for today.

deedles and lilsjula I too have similar ages as you guys 5/3/10 and 24/3/08 and yip dont plan on another pregnancy either let alone a summer one.
I think 5 kids is more than enough for us but I do hate the fact that Peppar is my last baby.
If someone else could have them for me I would happily have 10 I reckon. Well we would have to win lotto as well of course cause they gotta eat and trust me ladies 13 year old boys can eat a horse and look for the rider!!

Hi all, haven't been able to post for ages but I've been reading everything. I'll just quickly reply to the general topics, no time for personals as Lacie is about to crack it, she's lying on the couch next to me atm.

Clothing - I've just had to buy some 00 jumpsuits for her last week as her legs are getting too long for the 000's, the 00's are just about perfect so I got a couple of 0's as well to get as through winter. She's too skinny for her 000 skirts/dresses/tops still so her clothes are all different sizes. The Bonds suits are the only ones I've found that fit her body right, everything else is way too wide throughout the torso.

Routines - we've got a pretty good routine going lately. Generally its a bottle somewhere between 3 and 5am, another at 8.30-9am, 12.30ish, 5pm and then about 10pm. Change her nappy about halfway through each bottle, then after she's finished she plays for half an hour or so. I try to give her a play somewhere different each time so she's getting variety. Then she'll either sleep for a couple of hours or just have quiet time where she'll happily lay on the couch or on me but not sleep.

Have noticed if we have 2 or more days in a row when we are out doing things she starts getting unsettled, misses day sleeps and ends up having a meltdown when she gets overtired. Now i'm trying to have a day at home every second or third day so she can have uninterrupted sleeps and it seems to help keep her happy.

Of a day I let her sleep anywhere, usually in whatever room I'm in as if it goes quiet she opens one eye to make sure I haven't left and if she cant see me she gets upset. Of a night though she sleeps in the cradle next to our bed. Most nights she comes into our bed after about 5am just to help her sleep through till 7ish. If I put her back in the cradle after her early morning feed she'll lie there and talk/grizzle for ages but if DF puts her in she'll fall asleep straight away.

I feel sorry for those of you with sick bubs or toddlers, it must be so hard. Some days are a struggle with just one healthy baby, I think you're all super mums for coping when thay are sick or you have older kiddies.

Lacie laughed for the first time last thursday, it was awesome! she was nearly asleep, laughed and surprised herself. the look on her face was hilarious. She's been trying to do it again but just makes funny noises and cant quite get it.

Its my birthday on the weekend so DF is taking me out for tea. We're going to leave Lacie with my parents for the first time so will be interesting to see how it goes. I'm really hoping she's ok with it. I haven't left her for more than about 20 minutes so far but we need to start practicing for when I go back to work.

Sorry for the ramble, not sure when i'll have time to post again, its hard typing one handed! Hope all the sick babies and children get better quickly and you all have a great sleep tonight :D

Hi All,

I got the co-sleeping cot from the ABA shop on MOnday, great seller, quick postage. It took DH over an hour to put up, but it is WONDERFUL! I love it, Finally DH and I have room to sleep normally in our bed but I can see my boy and reach out to him to settle, bring him close for a feed. Its great. Might be a coincidence but we had the most amazing sleep last night, Last feed 8pm and he slept til 5:15am. So if I can get myself tobed earlier I might be able to catch up on some sleep. DD woke up at 2am, 2:30am, 3am and then DH went to sleep in her room til 7am. I nnver thought my sleep deprivation at this point would be because of my 2 and 1/2 year old.
During the day DS is feeding every 2 adn 1/2 hours which is har dto ekep up with. He came to work with me the other day and after a feed, nappy change and settling I tried to get to the loo and get myself some lunch, a couple of conversations on the way out of teh office and all of a suddne it was feed time again, No lunch for me and much less work than I had planned. Its the same at home. I like to spend a little extra time playing n th efloor etx on my days off and plan all teh housework in his sleep times but it seems all I can manage in his sleep time is basic self care- eating, showering etc. (And visiting Belly Belly) The days pass so quickly, especially when DD is here too, I am trying to emind myself that its just being with them that they need. On days when they're both here (mostly DH is asleep agfter a night shift) I plan long walks or going to the zoo but between feeds, meals, getting everyone dressed DD's 2 hour nap I find it impossible to get out of the house and then get really down on myself. Maybe its my plans are the problem.

Cass my DS watches intently when we eat too. I plan to introduce solids at 6 months but he is a big boy, so I would conisder it a couple of weeks early if it seems like he needs it

I hope everyone else plagued with viruses get better soon, DS seems to be getting better but now DH and I are coming down with it.
WEll, I Think I'm needed again, My boys hungry....surprise surprise!

:wall: AAAHHH!!!!

Please forgive me for what I'm about to say because I know some people are going through a lot worse, but I am just not used to this, I'm soft.

Tobi is getting worse at sleeping and is very unsettled. DD and DS1, particularily DS were great babies, would eat, sleep, poo and wee. Great 3 hourly routine and would sleep anywhere. Both slept through the night at about 10 weeks. But my luck has run out, me thinks.

We saw the MCHN yesterday and she has reffered my to sleep school. Being my 3rd baby I thought it should be easy as I felt confident in what I was doing but nothing I try seems to work. It seems the weekend trip to the inlaws has made matter worse. The nurse also said he is a tense baby, but I would be tense too if I had reflux. Poor bubs. We seem to be managing the reflux better now. Basically what all this means is that I feel like a prisoner in my own house because it make going out hard.

I've got my period again which doesn't help and DH has been doing long hours again this week. It is so unfair when we have a newborn. I hate that job, he works sooo hard for little money. I'm so ticked off today I am ready to tell him to get a new job or get a new wife. GRRR.

I know I should count my blessings but I am feeling overwhelmed by the negative today.

Do you feel better after your vent?? It's good to let it out and we all listen here (and commiserate). Are you going to take him to sleep school? I hope it gets better for you QB. :grouphug:

Yes feel a bit better now that I have had my vent, a cry and some dinner.