Sleep Sense Graduates - chat thread :D

[TennisGal]

Ladies!

For all us ladies who have chatted on the Sleep Sense Support Thread - wherever you've done SS, are doing it...or may do in the future, this thread is for OT chat (so we don't spam up those needing support) to see how we're all doing.

Everyone welcome

 

[Arcanegirl]

 

[TennisGal]

I LOVE your avatar piccie - our cat has similar expression. Bless him, he's not been well...and locked himself out last night, so has been wandering around looking put out for the entire day. Meowing at anyone who will give him a moment of eye contact!!

 

[Arcanegirl]

oh dear
Mine howls at us when shes been shut out longer than she likes, right loud thing she is!

 

[Foogirl]

What a great idea.

All is going ok here, sleepwise. We've had a poorly bairn the past couple of weeks, she wakes up coughing and has got into the habit of calling out to us. We've been breaking all the rules and I'm certain we've got her into the habit of being lifted and then she wants to "lie on the pillows" on the spare bed then "read the bears" before she will go back to sleep. I haven't the heart to go through with the whole "sleepytime" thing when she is poorly but I know she is also playing us!

Otherwise, things aren't too great. As you know we've had problems with her movement and at 21 months her gross motor skills are way behind, despite regular physio. At her latest neonatal consultant appointment they finally admitted they felt there was problem and sent her for an MRI scan. They think she might have cerebral palsy. We've to wait until the 31st March for her follow up and the results, but until then will carry on with physio etc. In many ways the answer won't change anything but it will give us a better idea of where she might get to.

I'm swinging wildly between not giving a toss as she is our wee miracle and if this is all we have deal with we've got off lightly; and feeling very despondent about her future and wondering if we should try for a little brother or sister for her. It's hard to think of how she will have to struggle through life. It's very unfair for her. Then there is the guilt......

On the plus side we know she is very far advanced with her speech and cognition. She's as bright as a button and will do well I'm sure. The problem is only with her legs and not the rest of her body so at worst she will be in a wheelchair and at best she will simply just walk a little funny. The physio is very impressed with her progress, apparently she hadn't expected her to take to her walking frame as well as she has so at least the signs are good.

Apart from that, we're moseying along fine. I'll bet you're all sorry TG asked now!

 

[Arcanegirl]

Big Foo, im sure youll deal with anything thrown at you, you always have such a level head and are a wonderful mother to Abbie..

That was jumbled but i hope you make sense for it

Sleepwise with us, Alex is still brilliant. He goes to bed by himself after bath and milk. He gives us the cup and just walks into his room and into his bed!
Even if he doesnt go to sleep right away, he stays in the bed and chatters to teddy untill he is tired. Not even a nightlight in the room!

 

[Foogirl]

Big Foo, im sure youll deal with anything thrown at you, you always have such a level head and are a wonderful mother to Abbie..

That was jumbled but i hope you make sense for it

Sleepwise with us, Alex is still brilliant. He goes to bed by himself after bath and milk. He gives us the cup and just walks into his room and into his bed!
Even if he doesnt go to sleep right away, he stays in the bed and chatters to teddy untill he is tired. Not even a nightlight in the room!

Thanks K. Tell you what though, I just wish they would stop throwing for a while! I was saying to Mr Foo the other night - "just once I would like for things to go the same way as they do for almost everyone else" Is it too much to ask for a little "normality"

Glad Alex is sleeping well. Did you get your ghosties exorcised?

 

[Arcanegirl]

They havent been back yet! What about yours

 

[Foogirl]

They havent been back yet! What about yours

No, and disappointingly, the lights flickering was the tumble drier!

 

[Arcanegirl]

Aww damn! Ive never figured out what the floaty thing was!

 

[hivechild]

Just a quick hi here! I've just spent all evening putting together a photo book of Ronan's first year for my folks and the in-laws. I can't believe the monkey is one already! I'm still in denial.

 

[Arcanegirl]

Im in denial Alex is almost 2!

 

[hivechild]

Im in denial Alex is almost 2!

I think I will still be in denial when he's off to college.

Also, TG and Poppy, how did I miss that you're both expecting number 2!? congrats!

 

[polaris]

TennisGal - what a great idea! So nice to have a place to catch up with off-topic chatter with all you lovely girls. As you say, I don't really feel like the sleepsense thread is the right place for that due to clogging it up for anyone who actually wants help/support with sleep related stuff. And OMG you are pregnant!!! Huge congratulations - how did I miss that??? I am so happy for you. Are you going to find out if you are having a girl or boy or leave it as a surprise? How on earth have you coped with first tri tiredness while running round after a lively toddler??

Foogirl -
I think the positive thing is that as you say Abby is clearly very intelligent and so advanced in terms of her language and social skills. And it's very good news that her upper body is not affected. I have worked in early intervention services in the past and I think one of the really hard things about these early stages is the huge uncertainty about what the long-term outcome will be. It is really just taking every day as it comes. I have seen some little ones do so much better than anyone would have thought though - and it is definitely very good news that she has taken so well to the walking frame. I can't imagine what you are going through though but I am sure that you will do the very best possible for Abby and take everything in your stride (even if it feels overwhelming at times, if that makes sense). Also I'm sure you must know rationally that you have no reason to feel guilty so please try not to! And also I don't think there is any reason why this should make a difference to your decision about whether to have another baby. Just my tuppence worth, I hope you don't mind.

Hivechild - as I said on another thread, I am seriously in shock that Ronan is one already! It just seems like yesterday that you were doing pick-up put-down with him and I was looking on with interest to see how sleepsense worked with a younger baby!

Arcanegirl - yay that Alex is so good with his sleep now. Isn't it just so lovely when they want to go to bed? Whenever we have visitors no-one can get over how Thomas wants to go to bed. After he has his bath he will go and kiss everyone goodnight and then head off up the stairs to bed for his bedtime feed and then into the cot. He has one of those toys that you pull the string and it plays a lullaby and he will play that for himself now if it is taking him a while to go to sleep and sometimes if he wakes during the night too. So cute!

So all is going well here. Thomas is nearly sixteen months now and a proper toddler! Running around everywhere and so much fun! He's such a lovely good-natured child though and he loves reading books together, so at least that gives us a bit of down-time. I'm still breastfeeding, but he has dropped all of his feeds except his bedtime feed now. The morning feed sort of fizzled out because a couple of mornings he slept in too late and I didn't have time to feed him before going to work and then gradually he just stopped asking for a feed in the mornings and I stopped offering because to be honest it gives us a lot more time in the mornings. He's showing no signs of dropping the bedtime feed yet though which I am glad about. I definitely want to feed him until at least 18 months and hopefully two years, but I think at that stage I will be ready to stop! He still doesn't really drink cow's milk so I'm happy that he's still getting some breastmilk to be honest. Apart from that, just yesterday he called me "mama" for the first time, it was so lovely! I've been trying to teach him for ages but he wouldn't say it. His other words are (f)ish and (ba)nana. I seriously cannot believe that his first proper word was fish!! No clue where he got that from - I actually think it's the only sound he can reliably make - because he also tries to say cheese and sheep but they both sound a bit like 'ish' as well, LOL. I am just loving this stage so much!! I'm finally adjusting to being back in work too, and am actually enjoying having the time out and the mental stimulation of work. Which is a big change from hating and resenting it! We do make the most of the days that we have together and I (maybe) enjoy him more than I would if I was with him full time (not sure if that's really true but that's what I tell myself).

Anyway wow what an essay! Bet you are sorry you asked!! Really looking forward to having this thread to chat on!!

 

[Foogirl]

Thanks Polaris. Your words are very encouraging. She's definitely showing more signs of wanting to be more mobile. When she does "standing tall" (which she asks for alot!) she rocks backwards and forwards like she is about to take off running. She also had started trying to launch herself off the sofa with a major bum shuffle. The mind is willing and it would seem the body is catching up. Fingers crossed!!

Your end to the feeding journey sounds like ours. I always hoped the last feed we ended up with would be the bedtime one, but she dropped it herself. We still did the morning one for a couple of months, but like you, time was always short. Trying to fit it in, as lovely as it was to sit for ten minutes with her, became more and more difficult so one morning I just stopped it and she never complained. To be honest, I think she was ready to stop it waaaay before I was

 

[Foogirl]

Going to go out on a limb here ladies.

Am I the only one that doesn't find the thread with pictures of babies falling asleep in their dinner etc etc remotely funny? Does anyone else immediately think "that child is knackered, get them some sleep"

Oh and, I bought Dana Obleman's "kids the manual" book today. Quite a good read I'd say. Some great hints for when they're a bitty older.

 

[Arcanegirl]

I don't really think anything of those pics othwr than "why doesnt my child just sleep anywhere?!"
It's not so bad now, I'm glad in a way alex sleeps brilliantly in his bed, I seem to find those kids don't seem to sleep as well

 

[Arcanegirl]

I don't really think anything of those pics othwr than "why doesnt my child just sleep anywhere?!"
It's not so bad now, I'm glad in a way alex sleeps brilliantly in his bed, I seem to find those kids don't seem to sleep as well

 

[hivechild]

Foo, it sounds like Abby has the will and determination to give anything she sets her mind to all she's got. I can only imagine how you're feeling and what you're going through with her, but she really seems like an amazing little girl.

As for the babies sleeping in their food thread etc., I haven't looked at it as Ronan never falls just lays down and falls asleep anywhere! There have been times I've been tempted to just let him go until he passes out when he's going through a phase of fighting his naps but I just can't let him keep going when I know he's tired. He's also started going to the bottom of the stairs and wanting 'up' when he's tired. It's a slow process though and he usually spends 10 minutes getting up the stairs and exploring the hallway and anything else he finds interesting along the way, and then if he doesn't melt down, it's 20 odd minutes of wind down before he'll fall asleep! Ah well!

Polaris, I keep hoping Ronan doesn't plan to self wean any time soon, especially before our trip home to Australia. Call it selfish, but I really want the fail safe of booby on the plane to calm him and get him off to sleep if necessary.

 

[polaris]

Going to go out on a limb here ladies.

Am I the only one that doesn't find the thread with pictures of babies falling asleep in their dinner etc etc remotely funny? Does anyone else immediately think "that child is knackered, get them some sleep"

Oh and, I bought Dana Obleman's "kids the manual" book today. Quite a good read I'd say. Some great hints for when they're a bitty older.

I haven't looked at that thread because it wouldn't really my my thing either. I actually get upset when I see children who are obviously overtired. I know I am still a bit 'funny' about making sure that Thomas gets his sleep and I won't take him out of his routine really unless it's unavoidable. I really don't like it when I see exhausted children and their parents say 'oh he would normally have a nap at this time but it's fine he'll have one later' and the child is just totally wired or agitated. Having said that, I guess babies are all different and I do my best not to judge. I hate fighting tiredness myself though so I don't want to put Thomas in that situation if I can help it.