April 2013 Babies

After a few nights of literally screaming from early evening til 11pm ish....I feel my good little bubba is back.
Not sure what it was or if its gone but gosh it was hard work. Nothing seemed to work. Last night was a dream :) even if I only get one 5 hour stint, then gradually less. I'm over the moon today lol.

I really feel for parents dealing with colicky babies, reflux issues, etc.

Hey ladies,

Sorry for being MIA, busy busy here with birthdays, my MIL arriving and my husband quitting his job!!! For a while there we thought I was going to have to go back to work! But fortunately he's had another job offer.

Awww Emma huge big hugs to you - it sounds like it has been a challenging couple of weeks. The unpredictabilty is difficult because you don't know whether you need to grab a quick shower and cup of tea or whether you can start doing something which might take over an hour to do - I totally understand your frustration.

Not sure if you're open to advice but I have read somewhere that babies between 6 and 8 weeks go through a new sleep phase as they start to become more aware of themselves and their surroundings and this is usually evidenced by being difficult to settle and catnapping. Josh has been completely self-settling since 5 weeks but I have noticed in the past few days that he's been protesting a bit more, I thought something was wrong but I just left him for another couple of mins and he nodded off. If you are prepared to do the hard yards, I think if you can get her to completely self settle for all her sleeps then I'm 90% confident it will stop her sleep problems. However she might cry and she might cry a lot so you have to be prepared for that and if you're not then it's probably not best to try it. Although I will say the younger you do it the better. Have you read the 'Oh Baby' book by Kathy Fray that Bobsta and I have read? 'Save Our Sleep' by Tizzie Hall also has some good tips. I don't follow the routines but I found the other information in the book to be helpful. As for the formula feed - by all means give it a whirl though if you're pretty sure hunger isn't the issue then I don't think it will make much difference. We did a formula top up with DS1 at about 3 months as he was waking 4 times a night and it didn't make any difference. His problem was that he'd got into the habit of waking at night and we eventually broke the habit at 4.5 months with sleep training.

Completely ignore all of my above advice though if you're not keen to leave wee Ashley to cry as I know it can be very hard and isn't for everyone =).

We moved Josh into the cot last night! He has just totally outgrown the moses basket. Fortunately it went without a hitch.

I had my first mother's group last Wed which was really cool, the ladies seem really nice. One of them had identical twin girls! I could not imagine doing all of this with twins, then again, they say twins settle each other so maybe it would be easier.

Oh question - what do you all do during your awake time with your babies? I'm always keen to learn what other people do as we tend to do the same old stuff here: tummy time, nappy free time on back, in bouncer while I shower, propped up on pillows in my room while I get dressed or put washing away, play with DS1 and try not let Josh get trodden on ;).... so keen to hear what you ladies all do!

Have a good week and Emma, let us know how you get on =)

Thanks Speck. Yip have tried leaving her, although I'm not a fan of leaving her to cry we have tried it.
She doesn't usually self settle with this and will work herself up. The frustrating thing is that she will self settle 50% of the time no problem, the other half she will protest and work herself into a huge state.

I have read the Kathy Fray book but it was awhile ago, so may get it from the library again. I've tried all sorts of websites and books, including reading stuff from the sleepstore. Thanks for your advice, always welcome. I am prepared to do the hard yards but when your exhausted with little help it is tough :(

Wow, nice that you don't have to go back to work!
I don't think Ashley will be far off her big cot, growing too fast

During awake time we have floor time, nappy off time, read a story, play her Leap Pad toy which sings, bouncer, looking at her mobile, looking in the mirror, etc   

Edited by emma_3335 - 11 June 2013 at 1:54pm

Oh wow great that you've booked a consultation Emma.

I may have to eat my words as Josh has been all out of whack today. This morning he slept for 40mins and then he had 2 x 30min sleeps and that was it all day!!!! I left him to resettle after each sleep but he started to get worked up so I got him up. The thing is though is that he seemed to be pretty content even with little sleep (apart from later in the avo but he's pretty regularly unsettled at that time of day). It was just really weird though cos he always has at least once long sleep a day of about 3hrs - hmmmmmmmm. It made it quite a long day as he was awake for so long but at least he was happy. I don't know if it's a growth spurt or maybe to do with being in the cot or what! ahhhh babies ay, the only constant with them is change! Will be interesting to see if he repeats it tomorrow and if he does I guess I'll just roll with it and carry on with our day regardless. He may just have to get used to being lumped around a bit so that I can get out of the house more with DS1 (I usually try and make sure Josh is home so he can have that big sleep but if he's going to cat nap all day he may as well do it out and about).

Definitely let us know how you get on with the Baby Sleep Consultant - fingers crossed she has some good tips with you. I know that she's very accommodating to the type of parenting that you prefer so for Mum's who don't want to leave babies to cry, she provides advice for hands on settling etc.

Thanks both of you!

You sound exactly like I'm feeling Mrs JcD.
Yesterday we only had cat naps, which like Josh, Ashley is happy with, or seems to be.
We had our anti Natel reunion last night so we were out late. Ashley settled and was asleep by 10.30 (after a sleep in the car and at the group from 7ish til 8.30ish). She then slept til 2.30 and was asleep again in half an hour. Then she woke at 6.30 wide awake. She will hopefully go down again soon. So that wasn't bad, but again, it's ever changing!

The last book I read was the Baby Whisperer and I agree with some of it. They all have good tips but you really must take what you will from them. It was good to chat with the other parents last night and feel normal!




Edited by emma_3335 - 12 June 2013 at 7:19am

Yesterday was great lol. Can't win. She did go back down for a decent nap in the morning, and again mid morning for a couple of hours. I had to wake her to go to coffee group. She fed there after an awake period and fell asleep on me. All of the other mothers think she is perfect ... She is always good when we are out!
I left her in the capsule for a bit once we were home and she had another decent sleep. She went to bed for the night around 7pm which is early for her, she was still asleep when I went to bed so I gave her a quick dream feed and she slept til 2ish. I don't think the dream feeds really work for us! We were up 20 mins and straight back down. She woke again around 4.30 and against 7.30. So we are still up frequently but it's not bad when she goes straight back down. Which she has for the last couple of days. She's back down now. So I'm pleased but its not perfect!

I tend to be a bit more go it with the flow than anything else. Maybe thats where I'm going wrong. It's strange cos my job is very structured (back in normal life).

We have our 8 week check today (8 weeks today!!!) Ashley is so strong, I am really looking forward to her check today. Plunket tend to be more thorough than the docs. I reckons she will be ready for the jolly jumper soon. She holds her head now and her legs when held upright. She is by far the biggest in my group for her age ...

Yay yay yay yay Emma, soooo pleased to hear your little angel baby is back! ANd she's getting so big too - great to know she is thriving so well!!!

As for the dream feed, I never found them to work for DS1 either so haven't tried it with Josh.

Yesterday after I posted I ended up getting Josh up and he fell asleep on the breast for over an hour which goes to show he needed more sleep!

Today I have played around with keeping him for longer (1hr 45mins) and he slept for an hour this morning and then another hour late morning. Better than the 30min sleeps he was doing the other day but still not great. Ah well. He has his 2 month jabs this avo so no doubt things will change again.

Gotta run, he's crying

Another good night here. She even went to bed without the dummy and the white noise all times. Weird. We were up every three or so hours though. But that's ok....

One day ill get seem decent sleep.. I dream of that day

Hey Emma, awesome that you had another great night with settling! And yes a full nights sleep will be total bliss once it arrives!! Funny thing is though, I tend to get up more for my 3yo than I do for Joshy, well not always but last night my 3yo kept losing his teddy. I'm so used to it now though that it doesn't even bother me.

Welcome Chloe, nice to meet you! We are a pretty small group but always welcome new members. Not sure about a mums and bubs group in Auckland unfortunately. You could do the Plunket Pepe course? I did that with my first and we kept the catch ups up after the course finished. I also joined a playgroup round Panmure way that my Plunket nurse put me on to. Ask around and I'm sure you'll find something.

Josh had his 2 months jabs the other day and although he screamed when he needle went in, he did pretty well otherwise. He managed a long-ish sleep yesterday afternoon as well which was great. He's getting really big too, totally outgrown all his 000 clothes and I'm going to skip 00 and just go straight to 0 I think. I finally got around to doing his thank you cards so they've been ordered and should arrive soon, can't wait to see what they look like. DH has been off work for 2 weeks now and starts a new job on Monday, has been sooooooooooo nice having him off to help with the 2 monkeys, think it's going to be a shock to have him back at work again.

Emma - how are things going with your partner in terms of helping out with Ashley? Have you managed to find a happy medium?

Bobsta - long time no hear! Hope you and Lili are doing well.

I think some guys find it hard to bond with the bubbas when they're so little but as they get older and more mobile, the guys tend to bond more. And once they're walking around and are toddlers they bond even more so because they can play so much more with them. Great to hear your partner is trying to help out more Emma, I guess that's all you can ask for.

Yeah the night wake ups just become the norm after a while don't they. A bit of a shock to the system to begin with but after a few weeks, it's second nature.

Well after a whole week of catnapping and me just getting my head around to the fact that I'll just have to roll with it, Josh pulled out two massive sleeps yesterday!!! I could not believe it!! Just goes to show that these babies of ours keep on changing. I can't believe Josh will be 10 weeks on Wed!

Emma - did you cancel your baby sleep consultation or keep it?