Babies born~October 16th-31st 2009 #3

[fi1980]

Thanks Rach, I'm glad I'm not the only one with a clingy baby!! Lets hope it passes quickly - its absolutely exhausting! Haven't thought too much about the birthday plans yet - what have you got in mind?

[Rach75]

it will be a early afternoon BBQ at home, i dont want lots of junky toys so asking for books to build his library...a friend suggested doing a book worm party have a worm cake etc...but i saw a thing on FB today where they did this awesome sweet stall like a fair ground party looked like such fun so hard to decide

[fi1980]

That sounds nice Rach, probably similar to what we are going to do.

Well I am officially over it! I'm at work but can't be stuffed as I've had no sleep yet again I can't take any more. Night after night after night of sleeplessness and I'm a wreck. I broke out in severe hives yesterday afternoon - I was literally covered from head to toe (including palms and soles of my feet... wtf??) with huge blotchy itchy welts. I've never had hives before, hadn't eaten anything different or done/used anything different so I can only assume they were stress related. leila was a handful during the day then wouldn't sleep last night. She goes to sleep fine just wakes up once, twice... 20 times a night! Sometimes for a mintue or two, sometimes (such as last night) for hours on end. It was 4am before I managed to close my eyes and by that stage i was so stressed and itchy that I couldn't sleep anyway. DH tries his best to settle her but she just wont settle for him. Day care are having more and more trouble with getting her to sleep which makes things worse at home too. So tonight I am doing controlled crying. I don't care that many people on here disagree with it, I can see that her problems are behavioural and I need to do something about it before I really do lose the plot. Nothing I have done so far has worked so maybe I need a harder approach. I have the numbers for karitane and tresillian so I will call them if I need help to get through this. Enough is enough I simply can't deal with it anymore, she has been like this for months now. I feel like such a failure. I feel like somehow I have brought this upon myself

[Rach75]

I know how you feel Fi, excpet I get some nights where he sleeps thru others where he wakes every 20-30min *sigh* its hard thats for sure, I am sure no one will judge you for CIO sometimes you need to do what is right for you...I swore I'd never co-sleep but I do when we have real bad nights..otherwise no-one gets any sleep.. every child is different some kids just dont sleep...thru..Luke rarely sleeps thur the day which drives me batty he will only sleep if I am nursing him which is fine if I have nothing to do but I have to run around after a nearly 4 yr old as well

anyway good luck and dont be hard on yourself ... you need sleep Leila needs sleep...and gosh about the hives have they calmed down today ??

[fi1980]

Thanks Rach I'm just at my wits end!! Its drives me nuts that John tries to settle her at night and she carries on and screams the house down like something is terribly wrong yet as soon as I take her she's all smiles I really hope we have some success. I know its going to be really tough but its tough now so how much worse can it get?? Yeah stupid hives, I got some antihistamines this morning to settle them down - of course the ones I had at home yesterday were not suitable if breastfeeding so I couldn't take anything yesterday just had a bath in pinetarsil (sp??) which did help relieve the swelling and itching but it was no fun at all having huge hives over my entire body. Does anyone watch The Simpsons? I need to go to Rancho Relaxo!!

[fi1980]

Where is everyone!!

Well I have some good news to report. Since adopting some new strategies with Leila on Friday we have had a huge improvement and she has slept through every night, had better day sleeps and gnerally just been a much happier baby. I am amazed with the results and honestly, I have hardly had to let her cry at all. I think the key has been not picking her up all the time as this was only reinforcing her behaviour. I still comfort and reassure her, I just dont pick her up every time she gets upset. Who would of thought it would be so simple!!

[Kazmar]

Helllllllooooo lovly ladies!!!! Ok well Fi- spill! How do you do it! The only time I get a full nights sleep is when Lucy is in bed with us. Which mind you I dont sleep properly, to scared Ill roll on her:-/

[fi1980]

Hey Kass great to see you in here again! I'm the same, can't sleep with Leila. Ok, so all I have done is stop fussing when she gets herslef worked up. I used to think there was something wrong with her, like she was crying because she was teething or because she had a bit of a cold or whatever so i used to try and fix the problem but I finally realised that there is no problem - she's just so used to me comforting her and wanted it all the time. So now when I put her to bed and she wont settle I pat her for a minute and try to get her to sleep then leave the room. Then she'll start crying! But I leave her, no matter how upset she is, usually for between 2-4 minutes depending on how upset she is (just crying or really screaming!) then I go back in and reassure her, pat her and tell her its time to go to sleep. She stops crying as soon as I go in! Then when I leave she starts crying again So I wait for maybe 4-8 minutes then go in again and do the same thing. She usually goes to sleep then or cries again but puts herself to sleep before I have to go back in. Then she is sleeping all night. It's really hard to listen to her scream and not pick her up but as you can see its really only for a few minutes and she seems much more settled in the long run so I guess it's worth it.

[Rach75]

glad it worked out for you Fi...

well luke is finally sleeping thru again he does stir around 4am but i give a quick pat readjust bedding he usually sleeps till 6am then i pull him into our bed as jase is off to work then and we have been sleeping till 7.30am i can't reme,ber if i mentioned it before but luke is officially cruising along the furniture :shock:

[boomba]

Sorry I have been MIA!
Nice work bubbas that are sleeping through...can you send some sleep vibes this way please

Will be back later the kids are still up xxx

[fi1980]

Rach glad Luke is sleeping well again

Hey Booba - great to see you again! Hope the sleep improves

Well Leila had a fantastic night last night. No crying at all, just went straight down at 8pm then didn't stir until 7am - yay! When I put her down for her morning sleep she cried for less than a minute then slept for 1.5 hours

Rach, Leila has been walking along the couch, coffee table, chairs - you name it for weeks now! She has a walker too which she sometimes pushes around but I don't give it to her very often. Mostly she just walks from one length of the couch to the other then back again and can turn around and reach out for the coffee table and cruise over there too. It's very impressive but I haven't bothered to report much in case those with less moble babies get upset. I think she will be walking on her own very soon.

[Rach75]

Rach glad Luke is sleeping well again

Hey Booba - great to see you again! Hope the sleep improves

Well Leila had a fantastic night last night. No crying at all, just went straight down at 8pm then didn't stir until 7am - yay! When I put her down for her morning sleep she cried for less than a minute then slept for 1.5 hours

Rach, Leila has been walking along the couch, coffee table, chairs - you name it for weeks now! She has a walker too which she sometimes pushes around but I don't give it to her very often. Mostly she just walks from one length of the couch to the other then back again and can turn around and reach out for the coffee table and cruise over there too. It's very impressive but I haven't bothered to report much in case those with less moble babies get upset. I think she will be walking on her own very soon.

yay for day sleeps we are lucky to get 40min if any

go leila sounds like they'll both be early walkers, i'm tired of having to watch what i ay in case i upset someone i'm proud of my biy if i can't boast here where can you ??

[goddessofdawn]

Hi all, I'm new here. May I join? My DD was born 31st October.... yup, Halloween.

[ElleJay]

Absoultely!
Welcome to the group. I notice your in Perth, whereabouts you from?
I'm Liz, 25 and have a boy born 21st Oct - We're in Baldivis, bout 10 minutes outside Rockingham

[ElleJay]

Whoops, double post!

[Kazmar]

Goddessofdawn- Welcome!!! Whats your baby girls name?
Im kassie 22yrs with two little girls, Annabelle and Lucy

Fi- Lulu just doesn't let up though Im really lost as to what to do. Want to come here and do it for me?! haha

Rach- Lucy has great day sleeps! But **** night sleeps I have tried keeping her up all day so she sleeps at night, doen't work, I think it makes it worse!

[fi1980]

Hi Girls

Welcome goddessofdawn Leila was born on the 30th.

We just had a trip to Melbourne to visit my family which was really lovely. Leila travelled well and had a great time with her relatives. It's so hard being so far away from them!! We are all going ok although Leila has another cold She just got over a nasty cold / cough which she ended up needing antibiotics for. I don't know if I should take her to the doctors again or not.

I have just weaned Leila. I have very mixed feelings about it. BF was going well but it was taking its toll on me. I'm 5kg lighter than before I got preg and I was pretty slim pre preg, certainly didn't need to lose any weight so now I'm looking pretty skinny. As you know I've been struggling with mild PND and chronic insomnia and there's been nothing I could do about it because as you know you can't really take anything when BF. I finally went to my GP who recommended some medication which I didn't want to take but I've really been struggling and sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy so I thought I probably should. It was really hard to admit that I needed help. I feel quite ashamed. I feel guitly that I've had to wean Leila because I'm not coping and I'm worried about what will happen with baby #2 when we decide to have another one Hopefully I will start to feel better soon and I will be able to put things into perspective. Sorry for pouring my heart out!! It's just nice to have somewhere to openly talk about how I feel and whats going on.

Kass - all I can say is that Leila actually cries a hundred times less since I've been using controlled crying!! I can't explain why. She used to cry and be unsettled and want me all night now she might cry for a minute or a few minutes then settles and doesn't need me and is sooo much happier. It's quite strange - when I didn't want her to cry she would cry all night, now I let her have a little cry and she hardly cries at all!! I hope Lucy starts to sleep better for you soon.

Rach, Stevie, Liz and everyone else

[Kazmar]

Fi- Pour your heart out as much as you like, thats what we're here for
As for admitting something is not quite right makes you a better mum. Instead of suffering in silence which is when **** can hit the fan kwim?
So good on you! As for when you have another, my gosh woman things will be settled then You'll have everything worked out and things have there own way of falling into place