Sleep Sense Support Group!

[polaris]

Hi everyone.

PieMistress Great to see you popping in - I will be joining you in the working mums club very soon - I'm sure my B&B time will be severely curtailed too! How is it going being back in work? I'm kind of coming round to the idea although I'm sure there will be plenty of tears shed when the time comes. But it has to be done so I am trying to look at the positives. Hope Kyle's cold is better soon, I have heard that they tend to be constantly sick for the first few months after starting nursery but it does build up their immunity.

Poppy7 - oh no, poor Elliot. I personally wouldn't worry too much about feeding him during the night if he's not well. I always feed Thomas if he wakes and he is poorly as I always think he might be thirsty from coughing. Anyway the antibodies in breast milk will help him fight it off quicker. I've always found that things go back to normal once he is feeling better. We had a very unsettled night last night too, I think due to yet another tooth on its way (number seven), he stirred and had a bit of a moan about three or four times during the night although he resettled himself each time and I didn't actually have to go into him.

TennisGal - hope Lizzie is a bit better today. How exciting about the possible tooth! Which one is it?

Historygirls - That was a long day! Wow Phoebe must be quite a sound sleeper, I don't think Thomas would have slept through all that commotion. Hope Max is better today.

 

[Frufru]

Hello Ladies :wave:

I hope you and your little ones are all ok and sleeping well, I have had a brief scan through the thread and it sounds as though sleepsense has worked well for you all

My little one, Joni, had dreadful colic for the best part of three months. Thankfully the colic itself is no longer a problem, however all the weeks of jiggling, rocking, cuddling and singing Joni to sleep while she had colic have left us with a little girl who cannot go to sleep on her own unless she is absolutely exhausted. I have bought and read so many books on sleep and Joni's sleep is better than it used to be but independent sleep is still a pipedream for us.

I had heard of the sleepsense program and signed up for the free sleep report a few weeks ago and have been getting emails ever since but was sceptical about buying the program. Thats where you ladies came in! I found your thread and have to say I was really encouraged by your experiences and results and that basis bought the program today.

I've not a had a proper read of it yet but am very much looking forward to learning more about Dana's methods. I hope you don't mind if I post on here now and again for a bit of support and guidance.

Take care

 

[history_girls]

Evening ladies - Husband has been despatched for Fish and Chips so I am sneaking in a and a bit of BnB. I slept like a log last night got a good 9 hours in - must be a record!

My day off in the working week leaves me even more tired. I am convinced now she is cutting her second tooth in ten days and she is not coping well Obsessed with me and had a right old paddy when I told her I was having a wee without her. She threw herself on the landing floor and screamed, waving legs around eveywhere and thumping the floor. Terrible twos already?

TG - Glad at least AF has done something - least you know Poor Lizzie - Fibby had all the signs of a cold and bit of a temp when that tooth popped through so here is hoping it is that.

Poppy - you too! Poor Otto - I have a lovely poem about babies wanting to see their mummy all night i'm guessing he has read it

PM - another LO with a cold? poor Kyle. Fibby has been going to bed most nights by 6.30 - tonight it was 6.50 - the dirty stop out!

Polaris - BnB is my link to maternity leave when I get home from work - I can still pretend I haven't been. I got a bit sad when I realised today was the day i had to go back and the thought of an extra 5 months I could have been off was awful! When do you start? TG you are going back arn't you soon?

HC - how is your back? Not sure what caused the dog vomit incident. It was bright yellow? Guess he sniffed something he shouldn't as I starved him for a bit and then did gentle food and he is absolutely fine. Bit cross he didn't get his normal food so he must be ok!

Hi and welcome FruFru! Sleepsense has worked for us - it doesn't give us 100% perfect nights but it has taught her to self settle! Ask any questions you like - we have been a little off topic recently but never mind!

 

[TennisGal]

Hi All,

A short one from me, as am wiped (again!) Lizzie still got a runny nose - but I'm pretty sure her bottom incisor is coming through. I can feel it poking through! Hurrah! I just wish it would hurry up and give her minimal discomfort.

Poppy - how's Otto? We always go a bit off-piste with sleeping when Lizzie is feeling a bit out of sorts. Her sleeping hasn't been toooo bad with the cold, but she's been up very early! She quite often feeds more frequently, too.

Polaris - hope you have a good night tonight, and another tooth! Exciting!! When are you back at work?

PM - HI!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is work? How is Kyle?

HC - hope you are feeling ok? Getting a chance to rest your back?

HG - Hope lil Maxy boy is feeling better? Enjoy that fish and chips. MMMMM!! Lizzie does NOT like me doing anything without her at the moment, either. She's on my hip continually. I put her down to stick a few bits in the oven, and she had a complete tantrum...but with real tears. I felt so awful! I'm walking like Quasimodo today, one shoulder is down near my hip!

I'm - after another fiddle around - back at work next Weds. One week. Gulp. Gulp. I feel panicky.

Fru_Fru - welcome!! it's a great thread - come on in and ask any questions you have

Well, huge ladies, I'm seriously considering going to sleep soon!!

 

[history_girls]

Anyone want Fibby? My oh my the little lady has a temper on her. I couldn't put her down this evening after work without her throwing herself onto the floor and screaming with big fat tears.

Bedtime is a battle until milk is produced and then she is an angel. She screams when I lie her down to take her clothes off, screams if I leave ther room to turn the bath on, screams if I put the blind up (a two handed job), screams on getting out the bath, screams being dried, scremas getting dressed! It is awful.

Anyone else get this? any tips? I try singing, waiting until she is finished (gave up on this one actually as she said she had no intention of stopping anytime soon), daddy distracting her when he is home to help.

going mad....

 

[TennisGal]

I am so glad you wrote that post! Lizzie and The Bedtime Routine (tm) are not on great terms at the moment...goes a bit like this:

1. Bath, happy, chirpy, delighted
2. Out of bath - quick game of peepo - all smiles
3. Lie down on the bed...try to escape...very funny until she's lying down again and then...
4. ROAR, ROAR, tears, ROAR, ROAR
5. Repeat step 4 until she has a BF

The lying down she just loathes! She's been like this for a few weeks, and shows no sign of relenting

 

[polaris]

Thomas is a little bit similar at the moment. Our bedtime routine goes like this:
1. Bath - having great fun splashing about and apparently in fantastic mood.
2. Get him out of the bath - starts screaming.
3. Dry him and get him dressed for bed - screaming continues non-stop throughout this.
4. Bring him in to say night-night to daddy - still screaming.
5. Wave bye bye and go upstairs - all smiles again.
6. Milk feed and putting him to bed are fine.
I'm going to try putting him to bed a bit earlier tonight to see if it helps. Although I don't really want him to go to bed before seven when I'm back in work.

 

[PieMistress]

Just a quickie about the above babies screaming before bed. We had EXACTLY the same thing with Kyle. Brought his bedtime forward in 15 minute incrememts and it stopped (along with playing lullaby music when getting him ready for bed). He is now in the bath at 6pm and in bed asleep between 6.30 and 6.45pm.

Might be worth a try?

He's absolutely exhausted after all day at nursery anyway but it worked for us (I can recommend the sleep store website based in NZ for really useful articles, they also have a discussions section on their facebook and post really helpful replies) xx

Flying to London tomorrow, eeks hope Kyle is ok - any tips?

Happy Weekend everybody xx

 

[polaris]

PieMistress - that is interesting that putting Kyle to bed earlier solved the screaming problem, I am definitely going to try it tonight. I already knew really that he needed to go to bed a bit earlier but have been resisting it for selfish reasons (I won't get home from work until after 5 so I hate the thought of barely seeing Thomas in the evening). But there is no joy for anyone in spending time with a screaming baby.

Hope your flight goes well, I was amazed how well Thomas coped with the journey to France even though he was out of his normal routine, and we didn't really have any problems with him on the flight. I found it helped to have an assortment of distractions to hand - snacks and books were particularly helpful. Thomas really enjoyed watching all the other passengers and waving at them and got very excited when people waved back! Also I covered his ears firmly with the palms of my hands for take-off and landing to minimize the effect of the pressure change - on the advice of my mum who does this on herself when flying - it seemed to work!

 

[history_girls]

PM - Fibby's favourite things on the plane were a straw and the in-flight saftey card in the seat in front. I also took lots for her to do - we had 4 hours to kill plus all the other time on the plane. Other passengers were great at smiles and peebo. However she slept on take off on the way out and had a good sleep on the way back.

I am so relieved it is not just us with the bedtime screams I was begining to think I had a candidate for Supernanny already We have moved her bedtime forward 30 minutes and 50% of the time daddy doesn't get home in time to see her. She was a little better tonight but then daddy was here and she hadn't seen him for a few days and he was a novetly

Polaris - I totally understand not wanting to put him to bed early when you don't see him during the day . On Tuesday Fibby was dropped home by the child minder at 5.30 and was in bed asleep by 6.15 having had a lie in in the morning. I think I had the toal of 70 minutes with her that day but it is better she sleeps. The keeping her up for mine and OH's benefit just didn't work no matter how mmuch I wanted it.

Right as Fibby spent a good couple of hours awake and screaming last night (she did 5 poos today yest that is 5 poos) I am so tired Take away tonight and bed by 9pm!

 

[PieMistress]

I will deffo try that with the hands on the ears. I was going to try feeding him on take off and landing but that might be a bit difficult. I'm probably stressing over nothing as I know his meal and nap times will be out of routine on the journey (and the plane is one of those very small noisy ones!) but will just have to go with the flow!!

I pick Kyle up from Nursery at about 4.45pm then we are home for 5pm - dinner, play, nappy off time, bath, milk and in between 6.30-6.45pm - it's rushed but the morning's aren't so bad, we have an hour in the morning too but I stress less then!

His naptimes are so so erratic at nursery. The worst day so far is 30 mins in AM and 30 mins in PM, the best 45 mins in AM and 2hrs 15 in PM (that was a total one off though!). Am starting to stress less about it though as there is nothing I can do about it!

Do babies have bad dreams/nightmares before the age of one? Kyle woke up screaming at 11pm last night (very very random for him) and wouldn't settle until he got a cuddle and was calmed down. He then went back to sleep fine!

His night times have also been really erratic. Three nights this week he has slept through (bar a couple of coughing fits but went back to sleep) and we've had to wake him up at 7am, the other mornings he's up bright as larry at 5.15am (and nothing will get him back to sleep - I dread these mornings as it's such a long day for everybody!!).

I'm still managing to keep one breast feed which i'm pleased about in the morning before work. It's lovely to have a cuddle in bed and a feed and it gets the day off to a good start for both of us I'm not sure when i'm going to stop yet, I keep putting it off

We have having lots of fun with raisins at the moment and peas etc, little things he can pinch with this fingers and eat. It's such a joy to watch isn't it!

Sorry, have to dash (again!!!) need to pack our stuff now, his stuff took me the best part of yesterday!!!

Hi and welcome to the new peeps and lots of sleepy dust for this weekend (Kyle in a thin travel cot mattress, poo - wonder if he will miss his comfy cot!!)

xxx

 

[polaris]

Well I put Thomas to bed at 6.30 this evening, I have to say that there was much less screaming than usual (although he did still have a little scream when I took him out of the bath) and he went straight off to sleep in about five minutes. Historygirls I agree that it is not really fair to keep them up for our benefit. But it's really hard when it feels like I will be missing so much time with him.

PM - enjoy your weekend away. I'm not sure about whether they have nightmares but Thomas has done that occasionally too, woken up screaming hysterically and then calmed after a cuddle and straight back to sleep. Don't know what else it could be if not a nightmare?

 

[Poppy7]

Hi everyone,

We've had a few busy days here with Otto being poorly, we had a wedding yesterday and this weekend I am looking after my friend's horses and dogs...I am shattered !!

Well, the little man seems to be on the mend thankfully! On Tuesday night he kept waking shortly after being put to bed and he ended up in bed with us in the early hours of the morning (this never usually happens as he won't go to sleep in our bed). Wednesday night was horrendous. I felt so sorry for Otto as he just didn't know what to do with himself. He woke several times after putting him to bed and then woke at 3am, 4.30am, 6am and 7am. He was absolutely exhausted and so was I. In fact I was so tired on Thursday morning I sat in the living room and almost cried! After waking at 7am he went back down for a nap and slept for 3 hours. Thursday night was much better. He did wake up very upset adter being put to bed but after finally settling at about 11pm he went through until 5am and then woke at 8am.

On Friday he was perkier so we decided to take him to the wedding and he did remarkably well. All of the attention took his mind off his blocked nose and cough and he had a lovely time. He even settled in his pram at the garden party after the weeding with everything going on.

Last night his sleeping was pretty much back to normal. He went to bed beautifully and slept through until 3am, had a feed and then went back to sleep until 8am. I am hoping tonight will be the same. He's still not 100% but is definately getting there.

Today we took him on to Plymouth Hoe for a picnic and he was trying to chase the seagulls ! He had a lovely time and then we went to the park. I let him loose and he was crawling and climbing everywhere. The weather was beautiful and we had lots of fun.

PM :wave HELLO!! Lovely to see you around hear again. I hope all is well. thank yo for askign about flying with your LO as I have been wondering the same thing. we are off to Valencia in October and am not looking forward to the ariport/flight.

TG thanks for asking about Otto he is starting to feel much better thanks.

Just had a a read through the last few posts I have missed and Otto sometimes has a little cry during his bedtime routine but not much. Usually if I sing to him it keeps his attention diverted. At least if this is something he does start I will know that it is normal and will know what to do!

I am off to bed shortly as I am ssoooo tired. Sleepy dust to all of you lovely ladies.x

 

[polaris]

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Poppy - so glad to hear that Otto is starting to feel a bit better, the poor little man, it sounds rough! Sounds like you have been doing loads though and having lots of fun!

Well Thomas has been tucked up in bed by 6.30 for the last three nights and today he was like a different baby! He was just in so much better form than he has been recently - all through the day, not just at bedtime. I didn't realize that he was getting a bit overtired and cranky but now that I see the difference in him I can see that he was. He is just so much more relaxed and easy-going about everything - no more screaming after the bath either! I guess since he gets up at 6.30 a.m. he may just need to go to bed at 6.30 p.m. to get his full 12 hours sleep. I would never have chosen such an early bedtime but if it is what he needs then we will go with it. It will leave things quite rushed when I go back to work but we will manage somehow.

 

[TennisGal]

Evening Laddddddddddddies!

Poppy - so glad to hear Otto is feeling better, bless him. Did you all have fun at the wedding? Any good shapes thrown to cheesy wedding disco tunes? I like young mans approach to seagulls, too, after being pooed on one earlier this year. DH was practically crying with laughter...!!

PM - hope you have a lovely weekend away. Sounds like Kyle is doing wonderfully, and fab on the BFing! Am so glad you got it to work well for you. I love watching Lizzie eat - it's barrels of fun. Especially as she just 'mmmmmms' her way through her faves!

P - Glad you are having better nights. We've put Lizzie to bed earlier too (fab tip, PM) and she's sooo much happier. Know what you mean, though, I love that extra hour.

HG - that's a cracking days pooing! Lizzie has started to pass me a nappy (if we're playing in her room) when she starts to do one, now!! Even though she gets really cross when it's changed!! Not sure what her logic is there, but it's most entertaining!!

SO, our news is that Lizzie has been much chirpier thanks to PMs fab earlier bed tip...other news is, she's properly walking now. Can't believe it! She walked over to the piano earlier - at some speed. It's just wonderful to see, and she's delighted with herself! She's also doing some version of 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' - only just involving 'knees and toes' when some music comes on that she likes. I've had to video it!

Hope you are all having lovely weekends - we've had a busy one, so just putting my feet up with a cup of tea and a happy boy cat draped round my neck! DH found a Harry Potter, so v.chuffed

 

[polaris]

TennisGal - wow how exciting that Lizzie is walking!!! I bet she is thrilled to bits with herself! And her little dance sounds SO cute! And what a clever girl handing you the nappy when she is doing a poo, it definitely shows she is starting to develop an awareness in that area anyway. They do say girls are normally a bit more advanced than boys on the toilet training front - I'm sure Thomas would happily sit in poo all day if I let him, LOL.

 

[TennisGal]

Oh my goodness, I've just remembered I am working on Wednesday. How has time gone? How has maternity leave ended?! I keep forgetting, and then getting all nervy.

 

[TennisGal]

Thanks, P Still, very strange she passes me the nappy - and then gets so cross! Almost as if to say 'argh, I forgot the next step of this process'. She refused to give me a kiss post nappy change today, so she was very cross (despite initiating the process!)

I love baby logic!!

 

[history_girls]

What a day it has been in the HG household. Lemon cup cakes made by 8am Packed and ready for swiming and an afternoon in Brighton bra shopping (I LOVE bravissimo) when after arriving at the in-laws to drop dog off for the day the car dies Cue AA phoned, OH and brother in law sent back to get other car only to find OH forgets his house key so they have to come back to get it cue real rush to get to Brighton for swiming (its 20 miles from where we live). Car can;'t be fixed by AA so in garage there goes another £500 I expect.

So to cheer ourselves up we have been plebby and had sausage sandwiches for tea We did manage lunch out at Pizza Express where DD was an angel.

Poppy - glad Otto is feeling better and wow what a weekend! Hope you get loads of

Tg - She is walking? part of me is despearate for her to walk and part of me dreads it as she will be everywhere. She keeps thinking about it but she just thinks it is easier to crawl everywhere. She can stand un aided but just not walk - I will have to put more practice in. very cute about the nappy - my charming daughter is happy to stay with her poo (a trait inherited from her father).

Spent a lovely 30 mins in Jojo maman bebe today but OH was with me so curtailed my shopping! so off to John Lewis online for a new sleeping bag for my very tall daughter - 18-24months I got to get as she is so long

 

[TennisGal]

HG - what a day!! I hope the car bill isn't too offensive Lovely to hear that Fibby had a fab time in Pizza Express? We may be going this week, so any recommendations for hungry gals?

Yes, it's official - my time sitting down will now be at a real premium, as we've already started scampering around after Lizzie. She thinks it's utterly hilarious, and now there are a whole new bunch of baby hazards to think about. Like the kitchen bin, and her new obsession with rummaging in it. Bleurgh! I say 'no', she looks at me and laughs!

Love Bravissimo and JoJoMamanBebe, too. Lizzie is almost always in something from them, has become a favourite. I love their dresses!