Any March & April 05 mums/moms want to chat?

[james030405]

We had a 12hr sleep last night.  Do not know how this happened :shock: .  He went to bed at 7:15pm and didn't wake till 7am As I still bf the feed around 2am my breasts were feeling quite full.  The only thing I can think that was slightly different was that he fed at 4:30pm and then again at 6:30pm.  I formula feed during the day and at both occasions he drank 7oz.  In regards to dreamfeed, I just stopped doing it (I think I did every 2nd night for a whileand slowly stopped doing it this way).  James would still wake up at 2am for a feed whether I did it or not.  I only do it know if he actually wakes between 10 and 11. 

I have to admit, I did miss having that 2am feed.  It is a nice time as this is the only feed I still breastfeed (am weaning as I want to stop at 6mths and when solids have started).

I too have a very happy baby - happy to watch the world go by but is wanting to get moving just cannot quite work out except for sliding everywhere and turning around. 

Hope everyone has a lovely day.

Lisa - mum to James

PS Happy fathers day to all the dads in Australia on Sunday This will be dh's first.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Just quickly, Karen, it may be time to move to the full 4hr EASY and ease out that activity time again to see if you can start to get some longer naps in.

[kq]

Thanks Nikki. Will try that tomorrow. No point hanging around the 3.5 hour routine as his naps are still all over the place anyway!
Karen

[Jayri]

Well I just wanted to pop on and say hi and well done to everyone,  Bianca, so good to hear that the room sharing is going well. I am thinking of putting them in together before xmas, not quite sure when though. Thanks for the idea of putting them down seprately and then putting them in together, I was wondering on how we should approach that.
 Riley is still taking a bottle, I had her take 3oz form me on mon. I have to keep at it though, I forgot today, kinda distacted with all the hurricane coverage in the US.
I was reading on how bianca and sorry i forget who else said that they had different kinds of babies, but it is amazing how different they can be. riley is so content, demands a little more time now that she knows that there is a world past her toys.
 She is showing signs of wanting to sit up, likes to lift her head, her temper has also developed, got quite mad when dh put the cell phone away when she wasn't finished looking at it.
You know it is really wierd how we get just what we need in life, when I was pg with dd, I said I wanted two boys, not really comfortable with the idea of a girl, and partly dissapointed when they said it was a girl, but now, she is mine, there is a connection that i cannot explain, i never quite had it that deep with ds. he is my angel don't get me wrong, but there is something different this time, more complete. Maybe it is the mother daughter thing, who knows. There are hard days, but I couldn't ask for any better.
Must dash,
Keep up the good work ladies.

[kate585]

Naomi, that was so sweet!  I've started getting a bit of baby fever again, but when I do the math and realize that my lo would only be about a year and a half old, I get over it quickly.   :shock:
Ryan is doing well.  He doesn't usually roll from his back to his tummy, but the other night, he woke up screaming like mad.  I rushed in and he was on his tummy with the blanket covering the back of his head.  I think he was really scared, since he didn't know how he got there.  (Don't worry, it's a REALLY thin blanket  :wink: ). 
He has FINALLY resumed sleeping through the night!!!  He started sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks, but for the last month or two, he was waking each night.  (Hard to get back into the night wakings after so long off!)  We started him on solids at 4 1/2 months (per dr.'s instructions) and he now eats solids like a champ!  But, the sleeping through the night didn't happen right away, like everyone told me it would.   Oh, well, I can't complain now that he's back at it.   
Hope you all have a great day!!!

[Little Bear's Mum]

I just have to share all my good news. We have now had 2 nights of my ds sleeping from 6.30pm - 5.30am approx. I've left him both mornings until close to 6am before going to him. Yay! It seems to be the change in his afternoon feeds that's helped. I hope that's what it is anyway. I gave him the dream feed both nights at about 9.30pm.

The next good news is due to him waking around the same time, we seem to be getting into a bit of a routine, FINALLY!!! I've been trying since about 5 weeks when it started going off track due to short sleep cycles. He seems to be more settled now into the same length of naps at the same time of the day, give or take 15 -30 mins. And that's including a 2 hour sleep or close to it at least once a day. Wow, what a change from 40 mins that we used to get. He's feeding every 4 hours too, which is making a difference. Well actually, it's 3 hours, then 4 hours, then 3 1/2-4 hours, so it's definitely more consistent.

Finally, my ds who doesn't take a bottle (due to my not trying when he was young enough and being consistent)  nearly did today. He actually did the sucking thing which he hasn't really done. I've used EBM rather than formula and let him kind of 'play' with the bottle in his mouth. IE he chewed it a bit as well as the tongue having a go. Anyway, this is a positive breakthrough, which is encouraging me to express again tomorrow and try again. I had given it a go a while back but given up disheartened.

It's funny how you said about your LO rolling Kate. I couldn't imagine my son rolling in bed. He's so well wrapped I don't think he'd be able to! And as for thinking of another one now.... I think I'll wait a little longer yet! LOL

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hi everyone!

I haven't posted here for a while, but I have been lurking! It's great to hear what everyone's been up to.

We've just started on solids (after a drama the first time we started with baby rice  :roll: ) - I've started him on sweet potato mixed with his milk - he's still not too sure, but is giving it a go. BTW sweet potato is a great weaning food, but it goes everywhere, and does it have to be so orange  :shock:  :lol: ?

Also, I'm still having problems with his sleeping. I've posted in the general sleep forum, so won't bore you here, but if anyone can help, I'd be grateful:
http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40087&highlight=

Other than that, we're great, and he really is a pleasure to have in the house.

Lots of luv,
Caroline

[BiancaB]

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for the comments in regards to my post, I relate completely to what you said Naomi about having a little girl and I too was really keen to have another boy. When Si was born I was a little concerned about how I would go with a daughter---I'm not a real dress up and go shopping type, I leave that to my sister! Much more into horses and the outdoors, so I was nervous contemplating the future with ribbons and ballet   Anyway I'm over all that now and my girly side has blossomed I actually love buying PINK :oops:  clothes etc and am looking forward to us two girls going out for some mother, daughter time, when my gorgeous Ky has had enough of Mum and becomes Daddys little man(I've been told this does occur :cry: )
About the guilt Nikki!! I feel so spoilt having a baby that is so layback about life, and I too make sure to get down on the floor with her making sure she is involved with all of us-----But I comfort myself knowing that shedoesn't seem to worried as long as she gets fed and loved she just keeps on smiling :wink:
Here is one of the differences with my two as babies, ds fed at night until he was 9 months and wasn't on a 4hr until he was about the same age!! I know :oops:  but he just needed that 4am feed to get through...dd is already sleeping 10-12 hrs straight and on 4hr routine happily!
So to all you Mum's who want to stop night feeds it may take longer depending on tempremant and if they are sleeping from df until 5am its called sleeping through :shock:
Take care all
Bianca

[FrasersMum]

Ah Judy, it sucks to be you!!   :wink:

I am certainly no expert but - I would try the shift to 4 hourly.  One comment that I have picked up on is "it's not logical but it's biological".  Maybe fewer feeds might be what the girls need?

The other thing I picked up, on a tip from the sleep boards, was to swaddle.  We had dropped the swaddle for ages but were having some night wakings too and tried that suggestion.  It has worked for us (even though Fraser now doesn't have his fingers to suckle - but sounds more like your Hannah, very hit and miss) - we are back to someones one, sometimes no wakings through the night.  (My DS never could get the hang of the DF so I haven't had the dilemma about perhaps dropping it...)

Good luck!

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Judy, the 4hr EASY definitely isn't logical in my mind either - but it WORKS!!  Honestly, when Danielle hit around 4mths she was again feeding 2-3 times between 7pm-7am, so I made the switch and gradually she cut back the night feeds over a week.  Then we were stuck with 2 and I was really unsure whether to go back to the DF or not, anyhow, it totally hadn't worked in the past, so I decided NOT to go back to it.  Anyway, about 2 wks ago she went down to one night feed (it would range from 12am to 3am and then she'd go till morning.  Well a week ago that one feed gradually stretched out to 4am and now we've consistently been going 5-7am - so 10-12hrs straight!  I wonder if it's a combination of growth spurt and needing to make the switch.  Danielle started taking longer to feed at each of her 4 feeds a day - yep, that's all she's having at the moment and my supply is absolutely fine.  Like you found with the older girls, Nathan also slept through at 11wks with a DF and we never looked back (until he became a toddler  :roll: ). 

Take the plunge!  :wink:  It can't be worse right?

[kq]

Judy,
Just noticed that your girls are very similar in age to Sam (born 23 April 2005). We are having the same problem. Transitioned to 3.5 hour EASY no problem and night wakings dropped to 1-2. Yesterday, went to 4 hour routine to try to fix short naps and we had 4 hourly wakings overnight...what is the deal with that?!!! Surely he should be able to go one long stretch even if it is just 6 hours!   He has done 8 hour stretches before.  Nikki, encouraging to read that Danielle was doing this for a week on switching to 4 hour routine.
I am with you, Judy, do I dream feed? Do I cluster feed? Will give 4 hour routine a chance so will do neither tonight and will see what happens. On the plus side, naps are better, Sam slept for 2 hours after morning feed and it has been an hour into his 2nd nap and not a peep! Fingers crossed! Anyway, just to let you know you are not alone so hang in there!
Tonight is another night....
Karen

[BiancaB]

Judy, I found that the DF does seem to cause a 4am waking with Si. But she will then sleep until 7am... So sometimes I throw in a DF and sometimes if I know she has been feeding really well all day and had good naps I don't and more often then not she sleeps roght through 7 to 7. Just wondering if the girls are trying to up your milk supply? This happened to me just before I switched to a 4hr...Before I had tried and she just couldn't make the distance then she hit a GS at around 4 and a bit months and after 2 nights of wakings and feeding plus 3hrly during the day my supply increased and after a week I tried the 4hr routine again and I haven't looked back. In your case with twins you must have to really be looking after yourself to keep there milk intake up as I know when I'm tired or not looking after my diet--it shows in my supply.
As Nikki said I would give the 4hr routine a go..I usually fit in an extra feed as I cluster at 5 and 7 so she gets 5 feeds a day.
Hang in there
Bianca

[Arwyn's mom]

Judy, I thought I would share my experience with you. I am relatively new to BW, just started 10 weeks ago and Arwyn is now 21 weeks, so... here goes.

I switched to 4 hours about a month ago when Arwyn was suddenly waking up so much. She has not usually slept through without waking at least once but it was upwards of 4 - 6 times!! When we switched though, she settled down and within 3 days, was back to only waking once or twice.

Arwyn also does things to wake herself up. She startles and kicks a rung on her crib or whacks herself with her hand when she goes to rub her eyes, etc. She is also not swaddled and a tummy sleeper. What I have tried is to hold her down (quite firmly) with her thumb in her mouth and pat/shush until she settles down and is quite ready for sleep.

I dreamfeed but when I started, she continued to get up at 2 am until I just pat/shushed back to sleep. I jumped on and off the DF wagon quite a bit when I started implementing BW. This last time it seemed to make a difference. Like you, I thought... heck, I'm getting up anyways... why make it twice as much work??

Now, having told you what worked for us... we had a terrible week. Crying to sleep, not napping and waking up once an hour until her dreamfeed. Today, that stopped and I also noticed that today, she did not drool like a mad-woman. Teething... gotta love it. Just when I thought everything was settling down!

Good luck.

[Little Bear's Mum]

Question for Nikki - now Danielle is waking between 5-7am, how do you deal with her routine? If she wakes at 5, do you feed her then put her back down until the time you usually start her day, or do you start the day then or what?

Thismorning my ds decided to wake at 4.50am so after feeding I put him straight back to bed. He slept until 6.50am. But for some reason, all day today everything has been out of sync. I usually feed 4 hourly, but this didn't work as he had shorter sleeps (only an hour) usually one is at least 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and he couldn't stay awake for his usual 1h 45mins. I wondered if it was because his morning was mucked up.

Just when things were looking good and I could nearly predict when he'd be awake and asleep. Here's hoping tomorrow will be better.

Mind you, it was still a good day, despite the grizzles.

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Hi, what I do if a feed is between 4.30-6am is do a small feed (the smallest amount she'll let me without being grumpy if I take her off), pop her back to bed.   Then she will probably wake later 7.30-8am - I'll feed about 8am at the latest (ie not on waking since she won't really be hungry), it then gives us another 3hrs until the 11am feed.  If she wakes at 6.30am for the day and feeds (ie didn't feed during the night), then I put her onto a 4hr EASY and because she has a big sleep in the afternoon she will often gain the 1/2hr to put her back on target and she gets a 3pm feed - hope that makes sense!!

I just have to do a mental tally in the morning to figure out how our day's likely to pan out.  I don't worry about the napping side of things so much as long as her feeds work out fine.  Now that Danielle is 5mths old her activity time can be as long as 3-4hrs (usually in the afternoon only) - so if she's woken 7.30-8am she'll likely only have one 45min nap in the morning, then her 2-3hr nap in the afternoon and then a catnap in the late afternoon.  Other days she might not have the late arvo catnap if we've been out and about.

We'll go for days on end where things are really predictable (in fact they were more so when she was waking 2-3am for a feed), but now that she's dropping that night feed we're a little more flexible on how things go.

HTH