February 2017 Babies Club

smaoifs

greenttc wrote:

We have travelled too caitirionanic up north loads to belfast and down to kerry,no planes or boats yet but i wouldn't be too bothered about it!

Our only planned travel is to Mullingar in a few weeks to house sit for my aunt while she's at a wedding. Perfect way for us to have a weekend away with babs without feeling trapped in a hotel room!

catrionanic

Yay for getting out and about with the babies!! I'm out every day, although usually just for a walk. I've gone to a couple of breastfeeding groups but not as many as I thought I would. I had imagined that I might get quite down being on my own with the baby all the time, as none of my friends are at this stage yet and are in work all day. But I'm loving it! He entertains me so much, and between changes and naps and tummy time and playtime and feeds and cleaning and laundry and cooking, the days are actually flying by. I wish time would slow down because these 26 weeks will be over before very long, which makes me super sad.

Are you ladies going back to work once the 26 weeks are up? I'm lucky enough to be able to go back part-time. I work weekends so will stick with that and do one weekday per week. It means my husband can mind him at the weekend, and my parents have offered to do one weekday, so we will avoid the need for expensive childcare... which in turn allows me to go part-time.

greenttc

Oh God, I get very very sad when I think of going back to work, how can I leave this little person that is currently with me 24/7? It will be like chopping off a leg!

My work pay me for 6 months so will of course take that. I can take more if I want but it will be unpaid which I cant afford. I have considered a mortgage break though for a few months. Anyone any experience of that? And then I will just save for spending money. really considering it now.

Getting worried about childcare now. Not sure about a creche and by the looks of things childminders are very hard to find! (If any childminders are reading this please pm me!!) Its so expensive!!!

greenttc

Totally have to get out of the house every day, I find it very hard if I dont. Have had plenty of long long walks around my area, have visited every park in south Dublin and every sea walk and even a few hill walks! Getting very fit so I am!!

I dont really have anyone else to meet up with either but I am doing surprisingly okay despite that!

tangobelle2010

catrionanic wrote:

Are you ladies going back to work once the 26 weeks are up? I'm lucky enough to be able to go back part-time. I work weekends so will stick with that and do one weekday per week. It means my husband can mind him at the weekend, and my parents have offered to do one weekday, so we will avoid the need for expensive childcare... which in turn allows me to go part-time.

I'm taking the 16 weeks unpaid after my 26 weeks ends. It'll be tough financially but we'd saved up a bit before I finished work to help fund it. My work don't pay maternity pay either so we've been surviving on Hubby's wage and the maternity benefit. We'll hopefully recover next year! Dreading facing back to work though. I'm enjoying the time with the two babies so much. We try get out most days too. My 2 year old, despite being in throes of the terrible twos, loves eating out so we even get out for lunch once a week as she loves getting her "liscious dinner" out! We've all the local cafés exhausted now.

My baba has settled down big time from last week when I thought the 4 month regression had started. I'm hoping that was it but I've a feeling its still ahead of us.

ally_pally

No strict routine here either. She usually wakes around 8.30ish. Although today was 9.30 which was amazing! Her naps vary hugely from day to day but she'll usually take her longest nap in the morning, around 2 hours after waking. That generally lasts around 1.5-2 hours. After that it varies. I'm quite consistent with bedtime which is at 8 and that's mainly because I think I'd crack up if I didn't get an hour or two to myself in the evenings.

I read so much online and it's great to hear that most of you here dont have a set routine. From a lot of what I read you'd get the impression all babies should have strict schedules from pretty much birth. And you're failin as a parent if you don't. Madness!

Someone asked about wind. I had that with my little girl. I think the main thing that fixed it was just time to be honest. Her digestive system seems to have matured a bit and while she still farts like a trooper, it doesn't seem to cause her pain like it used to. When she was bad with it we tried infacol, Nuk and then Dr. Browns bottles and some tummy massage. I don't know how effective any of these were but it at least let me feel like I was doing something to help her.

I'm planning on taking the 16 weeks unpaid leave. So combining the 26 and 16 weeks, all my 2017 annual leave, bank holidays and because of how Christmas falls, I'm not back in work until mid January. I told work that when I was finishing up but had also said that who knows, I might be desperate to get back to work. I genuinely do like my job but even on my worst days with the little one, I wouldn't swap it for a day back in work. It's going to be so hard going back.

deh983

Hi all glad to hear everyone is doing so well. The boss settled a lot after the 8 week mark thank god! She is generally a very happy smiley baby.

The one question I have is about naps. She can stay awake for about an hour & a half and then gets tired. I put her down & she goes asleep herself but ALWAYS wakes after 45 mins. I know this is a babies sleep cycle but just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to stop this. She will generally settle back down but I could have to give her back soother up to 10 times!!!

catrionanic

deh983 wrote: »

Hi all glad to hear everyone is doing so well. The boss settled a lot after the 8 week mark thank god! She is generally a very happy smiley baby.

The one question I have is about naps. She can stay awake for about an hour & a half and then gets tired. I put her down & she goes asleep herself but ALWAYS wakes after 45 mins. I know this is a babies sleep cycle but just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to stop this. She will generally settle back down but I could have to give her back soother up to 10 times!!!

Sounds very normal to me. My fella is a 30 minute napper and it's totally impossible to get him to go back over!

deh983

catrionanic wrote: »

Sounds very normal to me. My fella is a 30 minute napper and it's totally impossible to get him to go back over!

Agh so frustrating!! When does it end 😩

ally_pally

I'm not sure there's anything you can do to get them to sleep longer. The fact that she's napping, falling asleep by herself and will go back to sleep with some help sounds pretty good to be honest. There are days my little one barely naps at all and her daytime naps are almost always in my arms. You're not doing badly at all!

smaoifs

My little girl has started staying awake for very long stretches during the day. She'll have a very deep sleep for 30-45 minutes after a feed and then be wide awake for a good few hours. Not so bad with the good weather cos we go for walks but when the weather was bad, I would have been lost without her playmat.
She's really found her voice this week (15 weeks today) and is just chatting and babbling the whole time which is just amazing to listen to.
Her other amazing thing is that I can't remember when I last opened a pooey nappy. I usually let her kick and wriggle on the changing mat with the nappy open as she has a habit of weeing when the air hits her. A few weeks ago she started using this time to poo in (on) the old nappy. It's brilliant as it is so much easier to clean instead of getting all squashed up the front and in all her creases. I wonder is it something she's conscious of, that she doesn't like the feel of a pooey nappy so she won't go while she's wearing it?

deh983

There's a Feb 2018 thread!!!!!

tangobelle2010

deh983 wrote:

There's a Feb 2018 thread!!!!!

Ah! This time last year we were just finding out ourselves. Feels so long ago but also feels like yesterday if that makes sense!

smaoifs

tangobelle2010 wrote:

Ah! This time last year we were just finding out ourselves. Feels so long ago but also feels like yesterday if that makes sense!

Feels so long ago but that time has flown. I found out I was pregnant on the 13th of June after suspecting on a weekend away in Killarney. Feels only right that I have her booked in for her 4 month vaccinations on the anniversary of the day I found out 😂

catrionanic

I'm in a private Facebook group of girls who were due the same week as me. There are about 40 of us. One of them just posted up a positive pregnancy test, due 2nd Feb 2018..... I think I'd have a coronary.

deh983

catrionanic wrote: »

I'm in a private Facebook group of girls who were due the same week as me. There are about 40 of us. One of them just posted up a positive pregnancy test, due 2nd Feb 2018..... I think I'd have a coronary.

Holy moly I would freak out. mind you would be immaculate conception if it happened to me!!!!!

tangobelle2010

catrionanic wrote:

I'm in a private Facebook group of girls who were due the same week as me. There are about 40 of us. One of them just posted up a positive pregnancy test, due 2nd Feb 2018..... I think I'd have a coronary.

Wow! I can't imagine dealing with the exhaustion, morning sickness and all the other "joys" of pregnancy at the same time as dealing with my four month old who although is settled and so happy during the day, hasn't figured out the nights yet!

deh983 wrote:

Holy moly I would freak out. mind you would be immaculate conception if it happened to me!!!!!

Lol!

greenttc

I was only reminiscing about the day i got my positive test last week! Such a great time, and full of worry that has never gone away!!!!

Ya know..... i kinda wouldnt mind another positive really soon!! Mad i know but i feel like it would extend my time with the wee man and guve him a friend close in age! Better start trying if i want that wish to come true!

smaoifs

deh983 wrote:

Holy moly I would freak out. mind you would be immaculate conception if it happened to me!!!!!

Same here! Crazy how as soon as you have one, people start in about a second. Though that's life, I met my husband and people started on about wedding bells then as soon as we were married it was on about babies.

tangobelle2010

greenttc wrote:

Ya know..... i kinda wouldnt mind another positive really soon!! Mad i know but i feel like it would extend my time with the wee man and guve him a friend close in age! Better start trying if i want that wish to come true!

I've 22 months between my youngest two. The older one can be super jealous at times but I can see the friendship and bond starting now. The baba just watches the older one all day long. Its heartwarming. It can be hard work of course but I recommend it!

tangobelle2010

smaoifs wrote:

Same here! Crazy how as soon as you have one, people start in about a second. Though that's life, I met my husband and people started on about wedding bells then as soon as we were married it was on about babies.

No matter how many you have, people do ask when you'll "go again"! I'm pretty certain I'm done and I'm telling everyone that so I'd better not get caught out now!

smaoifs

To take extended unpaid maternity leave, do you just contact your employer and tell them you wish to take it?

ally_pally

Anyone else dealing with this 4 month sleep regression? I think we are for the last week or so. She's taking much much longer to settle down to sleep at night and wakes regularly. I've friends who dealt with their babies waking every 45 minutes throughout the night. Thankfully things aren't that bad with us. But whereas before she'd regularly go 6 hours straight at night before needing a feed, we're now lucky to get 4. She then starts fussing around 5.30. She's clearly still tired but she just can seem to settle no matter what my husband or I do. So we've had some very very early mornings lately. Cannot wait for this phase to end.

catrionanic

4 month sleep regression started about 4 weeks ago with us. Can vary from up 3 times a night on a good night, to being up every 45 minutes. Prior to this, he would have only woken once, sometimes twice, all night.

Daytime naps are also super short - 20-30 minutes, and he's awake for longer between naps too, usually 2-3 hours.

It's a killer. He's now starting to teeth too, so life ain't too easy at the moment.

ally_pally

That sounds rough Catriona. Dealing with the beginning of teething here too. I know it's all tied into these huge developmental leaps she's making. And in the last week she's started doing some amazing things - grasping objects, starting to roll over. But the flip side of it is sleepless nights, very early mornings and a sometimes very grumpy baby. So it's a bit of a rollercoaster!! The one thing I cling onto is knowing this is just a phase. This too shall pass.

tangobelle2010

smaoifs wrote:

To take extended unpaid maternity leave, do you just contact your employer and tell them you wish to take it?

Yeah, you notify them in writing to let them know. I think there's at least four weeks' notice required before you start it (you should check out citizens advice for the notice requirements) and it's to start immediately after the initial maternity leave, ie, you can't use up annual leave first. Hope that helps

tangobelle2010

ally_pally wrote:

Anyone else dealing with this 4 month sleep regression? I think we are for the last week or so. She's taking much much longer to settle down to sleep at night and wakes regularly. I've friends who dealt with their babies waking every 45 minutes throughout the night. Thankfully things aren't that bad with us. But whereas before she'd regularly go 6 hours straight at night before needing a feed, we're now lucky to get 4. She then starts fussing around 5.30. She's clearly still tired but she just can seem to settle no matter what my husband or I do. So we've had some very very early mornings lately. Cannot wait for this phase to end.

We're dealing with it too. It's a bit of a nightmare! But I'm hoping it passes soon. The night before last, I was in to her at least 8 times before giving in at 6.30 am and getting up with her for the day. She catnapped all day then but slept better last night and today, she practically slept all day. No rhyme or reason with her at all! Teeth are at her big time and she got her immunisations last week too which haven't helped. I just keep focussing on the fact that my last one had settled at about 5-6 months and was sleeping the night then and keeping my fingers crossed that this baba will do the same!

deh983

tangobelle2010 wrote: »

We're dealing with it too. It's a bit of a nightmare! But I'm hoping it passes soon. The night before last, I was in to her at least 8 times before giving in at 6.30 am and getting up with her for the day. She catnapped all day then but slept better last night and today, she practically slept all day. No rhyme or reason with her at all! Teeth are at her big time and she got her immunisations last week too which haven't helped. I just keep focussing on the fact that my last one had settled at about 5-6 months and was sleeping the night then and keeping my fingers crossed that this baba will do the same!

Yep think it's hit here too. Well at least I hope that's what it is or we're in serious trouble in a few weeks! Naps are gone to pot & has some sort of stomach bug as she's not keeping bottles down. No temp or anything. Did ye get vaccines when she was 16 weeks or 4 months. Looks stupid when I've written it down but hopefully ye know what I mean !!!!!

catrionanic

Deh983 we got them at 4 months.

Anyone having teething trouble yet? Lovely little add-on to the four month sleep regression!

tangobelle2010

deh983 wrote:

Yep think it's hit here too. Well at least I hope that's what it is or we're in serious trouble in a few weeks! Naps are gone to pot & has some sort of stomach bug as she's not keeping bottles down. No temp or anything. Did ye get vaccines when she was 16 weeks or 4 months. Looks stupid when I've written it down but hopefully ye know what I mean !!!!!

We got them a few days after the 4 month mark and two months after the last batch. They won't do it before then.

Ah the poor wee pet. Its awful when they're sick. Hope she springs back soon