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

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi everyone, so much has gone on over the last 24 hours for everyone. I think I get all the notifications as apart from this time, there's usually only one or maybe 2 new messages each time.

It's good to see some of you are having success with the longer awake time. I'm going to try reading ds cues more rather than clock watching as that's probably the best way. And waiting for the yawn rather than the first grizzle. Making sure he's really tired.

We were starting off well today, I didn't get the first yawn until 2h awake. Normally I've been putting him down at about 1h30m or max 1h 45. But we were off to the homeopath first thing, so I had to keep him up a few mins longer before we went in the car. He slept for 40 mins when the homeopath came out and said to come in. Bummer, I had to wake him!!  :cry: Otherwise he would have kept sleeping I'm sure. I'd gotten there early so he could sleep. Oh well.

We were there 1 1/2 hours just enough time for him to be tired and fall asleep in the car for 30mins on the way home. So of course he doesn't want to go down now cos he's had a nap.

I think ds is also having a growth spurt. Up 3 x last night to feed big feeds. And he fed 2 hourly yesterday afternoon and again thismorning. Perhaps this has also contributed to the shorter naps.

The homeopath took heaps of notes and is sending me out a remedy for him this week. She said it might not cure him of his reflux but we'll be able to see if there's any improvement. Sometimes 1 dose is all it takes thou.

Just tried some apple again and 4 days in a row and D is still not liking it. Keeps his mouth closed and I can only get it in if I make him laugh. But then he kind of makes funny noises and doesn't seem to like it. Does this mean he isn't ready for it yet? Should I try another food? He didn't like baby rice either. I guess as he's only 5 months it's not essential yet, but jsut wondering. All the other signs for wanting food are there, but he just doesn't seem to like it.

Arwyn's mum, maybe there's something else going on, like teeth perhaps? Especially if she doesn't want to eat. I feel for you having had no chance to sit down with your feet up and a break. Isn't it funny how even at this young age they don't want to listen to their mums when we say "we know you're tired, now if you have some sleep you'll feel much better" :lol:  :lol:

Judy that's great news about Hannah, how much did you extend it out, and how long has her nap lengthened by?

Better stop rambling on, coffee is calling!

[Erin M]

Life moves pretty fast on the March/April '05 thread!

Anyway, we've had an interesting week around here - Katie's been up every night, usually towards morning, in the 5 AM range, which is just not like her.  So, we've been resettling, I fed her once or twice, but it turns out she doesn't need the food, just needs resettling.  We've also had exactly two naps this week longer than 45 minutes, most much, much shorter.  Nothing even close to resembling EASY and her normal routine.  However, we had shots on Monday which is usually enough to throw her off, Mark and I were away this weekend at a wedding (first time she's ever been left) and I stuck my finger in her mouth today only to discover that those tiny little white bumps that have been below her gums for three months have finally broken through.  No wonder she's been all over the place, poor sweetie.

Arwyn's mom - HUGS and don't stress that much about the sleep.  I find if Katie doesn't sleep one day, she makes it up eventually.  (And if she sleeps in the car, it's not the end of the world.)  Your week sounds a bit like mine though - perhaps she's getting some teeth?

Little Bear's Mum - sounds like something he needs to sort through - maybe just getting used to not being wrapped at night. 

Judy - can I just say I am in awe of the fact that you have four small children and you can actually come on here and write coherent thoughts.  Were the girls born early? (I apologize if you've already answered this, but we've up to something like 46 pages and I just don't have the time to recap!)....maybe they're not quite developmentally ready to do the same amount of sleeping your older girls were at this age.

Take care all and have a nice weekend!

[Jayri]

Hi all, just popping onto say Hi to everyone.
dh has taken the lo's to his parents for the night to give me a break :shock: , so I am feeling a little lost at the moment. I am enjoying it don't get me wrong, I just sat and watched alexander with colin farrell in it, yummy!
Riley is still teasing us with those teeth of hers, she has everything else, crankiness, tonnes of drool, no teeth, no even a red gum or a bump!
She has decided I think that it would be fun to mess around with her naps, it was all good at the start of the week, a perfect 4hr routine, I think she must be trying to keep me on my toes :wink:
Riley has been sleeping unwrapped for a while, mainly cause she is too wiggly to wrap up, so I try and tuck her blankie under her, doesn't really work, but the thought is there I suppose.
Judy, you simply amaze me, I have a hard enough time with my two, I take my hat off to you for handling your family everyday.
I am not too sure if I want to attempt an input on this wake to sleep thing, everytime I think she is down to one waking, the next night it is back to 2 or even 3 at times.
Well I must dash, keep up the good work everyone, hugs to everyone, I don't think any of us mums are getting enough.
Enjoy your weekend!!

[Little Bear's Mum]

J&R's mum, how wonderful for you having a night off. It must seem strange, especially after being used to having 2 lo's in the house. Your house will seem so quiet I'm sure.

I have to share my good news. DS slept for 1h 50mins thisafternoon! Yay, finally a good long sleep again. He woke at 30mins and cried out, but I was on the phone. About 2 mins later when I was about to go through he suddenly stopped. AND WENT BACK TO SLEEP !!! That sleep was from 2-3.50pm, then, he had another 45 mins from 5.45pm in my arms. He took a huge feed from me, then fell asleep. As he's been short on sleep lately I let him stay cuddled with me. It was soooo nice as I very rarely do this. Sometimes I think I miss out because I don't let him sleep in my arms or my bed, but I'm very happy with that decision that he doesn't. Anyway.... he slept until I woke him at 6.30. He then had a bath a final feed and into bed by 7.15pm. He went straight to sleep.

So today he's ended up having close to 4 hours sleep. He hasn't had that much since I don't know when. It will be interesting to see how well he sleeps tonight.

The other good news is DS is still sleeping unwrapped and settling really well. And because he slept for so long thisafternoon, I now know he can and will continue to keep him unwrapped. I'm soooo happy this is working out, I was beginning to think I"d have to wrap him if I wanted him to sleep longer during the day. But... he can do it! 

Hope everyone's days go better if you've been having bad ones, and nights are peaceful and restful.

[Arwyn's mom]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I was surprised that Arwyn's night sleep was not affected by the lack of napping time. She went down with no problem at 7, woke briefly at 9:30 (as per normal) and slept until 4:45am when she had a feed. She was awake when I put her back down at 5:05 but I think she fell back asleep?? (at least mommy did!)

I fed her at 7:30...I think she had been up for a few minutes already. Now, we are trying for nap #1... keeping my fingers crossed  :roll: as she was showing all the tired signs... she even started whining which is not usual for her unless she is REALLY tired. Maybe she was up at 7 and I didn't know?  :oops: 

Sounds like everyone's lo is drooling up a storm... could we be seeing teeth? I know that Arwyn is soaking lots of clothes and loves to chew on everything!

Little Bear's mum... congrats on getting your lo to sleep a longer nap! Unwrapped and everything! Great news.

Naomi... so, how did your "mommy duty-free" night go?

[Shazzeal]

Hi all,

I am new here. My son was born on the 10th of April. Just wanted to say hello and see if I could join you guys.

[Jayri]

It is still going really well. I am very impressed at MIL. I wrote down my routine for both lo's. She has been able to follow it more for Riley than Jayson, he is a little too excited to be away from home, I just talked to her and she said she was starting to feel a little worn out.
Last night was a little wierd, I couldn't sleep very well, it felt a little too empty here.
At the moment we are all sitting here in nova scotia waiting for tropical storm ophelia, I have the food in the kids are supplied for, water is done, even for her cereal, lots of fruit and veg. Basically a moose could fart and nova scotia power would loose power. they don't have a good track record, the last 2 storms we had people lost power for about a week in some places, thank goodness I live in a city.
Well I just wanted to pop in and say hi!
Shazzel welcome form all of us, feel free to jump in any time and join our craziness  
Okay I am off, I am doing all of the chores I don't normally have time for, I just had a nice nap so off I go again.

TTFN dahlings

[Little Bear's Mum]

Wow, I couldn't imagine having to prepare for a storm like that. We don't normally get storms that are really bad in NZ. In saying that, the day we got married (14 Feb last year) a storm began and continued on for a few days. We were lucky and left for our honeymoon to Thailand and left it all behind us. But the lower north island, particularly the area we now live in was devastated. Major floods with people loosing houses. We didn't know anything about it until a few days later when we jumped on the internet to email family and friends to say hello. Our friends always laugh at us, because we have the best stocked pantry, and say if there was another flood, they'd all pile into our house and could survive for weeks!

Daniel is Definitely going through a growth spurt. Up 4 times to him again last night. Starving each time. I'd put him down after one side and he'd start crying really loudly. NOrmally one side in the night is fine for him. Here's hoping he's back to normal tonight.

I've just put him down for his first nap, and I think he's been up about 2h 15m or so, I was so blurry eyed when he woke I fed him still half asleep. He came off me and stopped feeding, I opened my eyes, looked down and he just looked at me. I gave him a smile (first one for the day) and he smiled back and started feeding again. It was so beautiful, as if to say, "are you okay mummy?" I said I was sorry for being so tired and not smiling sooner. :oops:  After feeding I woke his daddy and asked him to please look after him as I needed more sleep. He happily got out of bed and played daddy. I really should do this more often!

Shazzeal, welcome. My Daniel was born 11 April. Feel free to tell us all your good and not so good stories, we're all great listeners here!

I was wanting to update my profile but I'm not sure how to do it. Is the bit you guys have with your name on the bottom and age of bubs called the signature? Where do you find those cute little age charts from?

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Wow, so much reading to catch up on..

LB's mum, yep that's the signature part of the profile.  Also you can get a lilipie signature (click on someone elses and it will take you to the place to get them), you copy the HTTP option and paste it into your profile.  Hoepfully that will make sense once you look at the website.

Well we've also hit a growth spurt and yesterday and today feeding 2-3hrly and not going down for naps and then taking a full feed.  Fortunately it didn't affect last night as I gave her a DF since we went out for dinner to my parents and got home at 10pm - she still woke at 4am (an hour later than the usual wake up) and then fed again at 7am.

Can't remember who was mentioning it, but we also get hassled from my parents about sticking to our routine and constantly being told to let it go for one day - so we do occasionally like last night and of course it worked out fine.  Of course they also marvel at how well behaved and happy my kids are when out and about because it's always after they've been fed and had a good sleep! :roll:  They're pretty good now since they see the benefits for everyone. 

Well it's a yuck dreary day today.  LB's mum, I'm trying to remember the storm you're referring to, and I do remember a pretty full on one lashing through and causing all that flooding - luckily our area wasn't affected.  I grew up in Palmy and lived there through my school years how about you?

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

Yeah I hear ya on the frustration of different sleepers Judy!  I used to get away with a 9.30pm DF with Nathan at this age.  10pm sounds like a good start. 

See I've just been feeding at that 3-4am wake up and I'm back in bed within 15mins - probably the lazy option and habits to break later...but works for me now.

[Arwyn's mom]

Welcome Shazzeal!

Looking forward to getting to know you and your little one!

[Colesmom]

OMG, there is so much going on here and I never got a notification!  I think that maybe I didn't use the link they emailed me so then they don't send you anymore :?

I have the worst memory ladies, so please be patient with me.

Arwyn's mom (and others):  Thanks for the awake times.  I think i've finally got Cole figured out.  We had a great night last night and a great day today!  Last night he woke at 9:45pm for feed (I'm letting him wake now instead of DF) then again at 3:45am.  Cooed and babbled for 10 min after feed (no longer up 1.5 hrs!) and went back to sleep until 6:30 (down at 6:40pm)

Today went like this:

A time 1.75 hr, nap 1.25
A time 2 hr, nap 1.5
A time 2.25 hr, nap 1.25 (with help at 30-45min.)
A time 2.5-down for bed in 15 min.  at 7:30

I know what you ladies mean by second wind.  I was certain he could only handle 1.5-1.75 before bed but after two nights of screaming fits I kept him up longer and VOILA, settling much better.  He's also been waking at the 45 min. mark at night and screaming for 10 or so minutes.  Tonight he woke, but just a gentle cry for 3 min

What else...oh ya, for those with los having 40-45 min naps.  I would do my very best to keep them up as close to the next scheduled nap time as possible.  I read a great book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth.  He does a great job explaining sleep and wake states.  So if you have a short nap and then try to put your lo down way off schedule, they end up sleeping during a wakeful state...which ends up in fitful sleep.  Make sense?  I hope I've kind of explained it right.  So if you have a nap from 9:00-9:45 (instead of 10:30)and your next nap would normally be at 12:30, try to stretch your lo as close to that as possible...even if just 12:00 or so instead of 11:30.

Also, he explains how the first nap is an extension of night sleep (more REM) so the wakeful period should be shorter than the others.  I kept things low key for Cole in the am today and made his A time 15 min. less and he slept LONGER!  worth a try perhaps???

Arwyn's mom:  Hope today went better than Friday...sorry I wasn't around for support.

Shazzeal: Welcome!  I've only been on this thread a week or so myself and I love it!  So much useful information and great support and encouragement

Judy: Kudos to you with 4 los including TWINS!  Not quite sure how you do it but can you see me bowing down to you :wink:   Where in SW Ont. are you???

Gosh, I know there was so much more I wanted to say...I'll have to go back and read again in the morning.  Just got off a boobie call and I'm exhausted.  Catch up with you soon...

Traci

[Taylor's Mommy]

Wow ladies this thread is busy!!!  With starting back at work this week I have just been too exhausted to get on at night, so a lot to catch up on.

First, thanks to all the moms that welcomed me aboard!  I am very excited to have more moms to chat with.

Lil Bears Mum and Arwyn's mom-re. 45 minute naps.  I found that they went away when she was almost 4 months and we had achieved 2 things: 4 hour EASY and she learned to put herself to sleep.  With that said we had almost 1 solid month of terrific 2 hour naps, and then 2 weeks ago they started up again.  I tried for a couple of days to extend them but it is so much harder to extend them now that she is older and more aware that we gave up and have just rolled with it.  That has made all of us a lot happier.  She seems to make up for it by taking a longer 2nd nap or cat nap.  Plus I figure that it is soooo much better than it used to be with EVERY single nap being 45minutes and her being cranky with them.  Now she isn't so cranky after one.  Question for you-is ds still taking a cat nap?  I read on the nap forum that 45 min. naps come back when they are ready to drop a nap.  Just a thought?

Arwyns Mom-so funny abotu mommy knows best.  When Taylor has a short nap and starts getting cranky, I say "who's fault is it that you're cranky--you should have slept longer!"  I knwo she has no idea what I'm saying but it makes me feel better!
ALso, I feel awkward with this BW thing all the time, but then when we are off it for a day or two, I feel even more confused so I figure in the end it is the best.  Also, if you want to go out to eat and get your lo to bed later, it won't be the end of the world.  I did that tonight in fact and she went down just fine...even after falling asleep in the car.  They are more resilient than we give them credit for sometimes.
Jason & Riley's Mom-hope your enjoying your time on your own...i bet it's weird but also kind of nice huh?
Herbst 99-type A personality and a brand new baby are like oil and water!  I kept saying to DH, why cant I get her to do this, why can't I get her to do that?" and he'd say, "because she's a baby, not a robot!"  Oh yeah!!! :roll:   I have to remind myself of that ALL the time! 

Traci-that is so interesting abotu the first nap being an extension of night sleep!  I have always wondered why she is sooo sleepy in the am after sleeping all night.  I too have learned to keep the first A time very low key.  All we do is get dressed and feed and then go for a long walk and then to bed.  I have got to read that book as so many people have recommended it.

Lastly, Taylor the last 2 days has started rollign on her tummy to sleep and she seems pretty comfy so we are going with it.  It is so amazing how much they change in a week.  I felt so out of it after not putting her down all week for her naps.  DH who works from hoem was showing me the ropes!

This post is way toooooo long.  SOrry!

Thanks for anyone who actually read all of this!
Andrea

[Arwyn's mom]

Andrea,

Nice to hear about Taylor and her naps. I'm glad I'm not the only one who tells my daughter that she is cranky because she did not have enough sleep. Arwyn used to have GREAT naps before she turned 4 months. Then suddenly, they got progressively shorter, from 2h 15m to 1h 30m to our new favourite, 45 minutes.

Well, today's naps started off worse than yesterday. She napped for 34 minutes in the morning. Then we had a visitor... she went down no problem but woke after 44 minutes... (well, that's 30 minutes more than yesterday's nap #2 so...)

Anyways, this is where it starts going downhill.  :cry:  Usually, if she does not have enough sleep, she gets cranky after about 45 minutes of activity. Well, she woke up cranky as all heck. Wouldn't be held, wouldn't play, be consoled, put down, rocked, you get the picture?  I basically told my friend to leave so I didn't have to feel guilty about putting Arwyn down  :roll:  (cuz I knew there would be lots of LOUD crying). She went down after 15 minutes of very LOUD crying and mommy patting her back. Woke up a happy baby!

Yes, Andrea... I couldn't resist... I said, "See, look what getting enough sleep does for you!" 

I am trying not to get so uptight about our schedule. It's not so much going out for dinner, to the drop-in, etc. For some reason, I am better able to accept that her schedule will be "off" on those days. It is more when it starts off rocky -- that first nap really does me in. I "expect" a cranky day when she doesn't have a good first nap.

Anyways, I'm still trying different things... extending activity time, watching cues, watching the clock despite cues, etc. I know that "this too, shall pass."

Sorry, this is long... just gotta get those short nap frustrations off my chest.

BTW, Andrea... congratulations on going back to work. How is it going?

[Little Bear's Mum]

I can sooo relate to you Arwyn's mum it scares me! I think our bubs are telepathically linked! And our personalities must be pretty similar too, cos I go through the same thought process as you.  :lol: Even your comment about when you're out vs when you're home.

Traci, I understand and agree with the concept that the body clock gets used to awake/sleep times, but how do you figure out when these should be? Do you take a 'good' day and base them on that? Is there some scientific way of figuring it out?

Daniel slept 1.5h for his first nap, then 2 x 40m naps after that. But at least he had the big long one in the morning. We went out for brunch today, so he got a 10min catnap in the car on the way home before his second nap. So that possibly contributed to the shorter nap once he got home. Also, I think he can actually do closer to 2.5h awake during the day if at home. I don't have much planned this week at all, so a good time to really 'study' his cues and work out what's best.

Andrea, does Taylor normally like her tummy? I guess she must if she is happy to sleep on it! Daniel doesn't like tummy time much. He'll only lie on it for about 3 mins before grizzling which turns into crying if I leave him too long. But I notice Daniel moves around more on his back to side in his cot. I'm wondering if I should try playing in his cot or on our big bed rather than the floor and if he'll learn to move more. So many babies seem to dislike tummy time, yet the others seem to like it that much they sleep on their tums. I wonder why?

I've just noticed the 4 boxes below where I'm typing this which have the "Notify me when a reply is posted" box didn't have my box ticked. It was previously. I think like one of you ladies suggested, if you don't get here via the email link this box isn't selected, so you need to reselect it for the emails. Does that make sense?

I'm hoping for a better nights sleep tonight, 2 nights of growth spurt and feeding is quite enough for me these days. I'm not used to it. How you do it Judy I don't know. Do you have shares in a coffee company??? :lol:  :lol:  :lol: