February 2017 Babies Club

deh983

Must have been something in the air last night. The boss was giving out from 4:30 & brought her in with me at 5. She didn't settle too well and eventually woke at her usual time of 7:30. Very whingy today. She coming to the end of a leap so fingers crossed she settles for a while before the next one

greenttc

Caitriona i dont think it is a neurological issue, i think it is normal enough (unless your instinct is telling you otherwise) look up sleep cycles, we all go through sleep cycles which are about 45 mins to an hour long, we just move from one to the next easily, turn over and go into the next cycle but babies are not like this, they find it hard to go into the next cycle and thats why you will find babies waking up every hour almost on the hour in some cases.

This is what the whole sleep association is about, babies need to learn how to put themselves to sleep and if they have this skill they will be able to move through sleep cycles easily. So if you havent done this already, have a look at what you do when putting liam to sleep, are you doing something which he might associate with sleep, maybe you are rocking him to sleep, feeding him before sleep, sitting with him till he is asleep, basically is there might be something that you are doing that is not there available to him when he wakes up. For us it was the soother so we got rid of it. Otherwise we always put him into his cot while he is still awake and then leave the room so he sends himself to sleep, in the beginning his dad would be walking him around till he fell asleep, then we were feeding him to sleep but all of that was cut out and now he sleeps well.

Google sleep cycles and sleep associations and something might click with you...

Anne_cordelia

catrionanic wrote: »

Ally, my wee guy is waking crying often too. I wonder if it's some neurological development issue going on? Or maybe it's discomfort in their bellies now that they are digesting solid food? He has always been a rubbish sleeper but is even worse lately (his best nights are when he wakes 3 times, but it's usually 6 times now).

Some kids are more sensitive to the leaps than others. I absolutely believe in the developmental leaps and my 3yo experienced unsettled sleep when going through any sort of development until he was about 2. There was always something new happening with him after a period of unsettled sleep. I've read about about sleep cycles so I under the 45min thing but it's not that simple for all kids. Some kids are just rubbish sleepers. I think you are doing great and rather than driving yourself mad trying to figure it out, just go with the flow and sleep when you can. Your body adjusts to less sleep eventually! I personally don't agree with sleep training or cry it out particularly so young. Responding to their needs (day and night) creates confident, independent children in the long term research has shown. Sometimes it feels like everyone around you has kids who sleep through the night and you are the only one with a bad sleeper!

fits

The teeth can wake them at night too.

greenttc

What are you all doing about formula, now that all the babies are weaning are you moving on to the stage two follow on formula or sticking to the stage one? My friend said it to me that i could be moving up, supposedly the difference is an increase in iron, i must look at the ingredients for both though and compare. I am not sure my wee lad is eating enough to be considered weaning or is that the very reason i should be moving him over. As you all know he is doing baby led weaning so it is hard to gauge how much he is actually taking in. He hasnt reduced any of his bottles though so i am not sure he is eating a huge amount, although in saying that he hasnt increased bottles either.

I know you an get offers and deals on the follow on milk but at the same time the scoop is bigger so you probably get through a tub quicker anyway. The cost is just an aside though, i obviously just want what is the best one for my baby, so hard to know!

smaoifs

greenttc wrote:

What are you all doing about formula, now that all the babies are weaning are you moving on to the stage two follow on formula or sticking to the stage one? My friend said it to me that i could be moving up, supposedly the difference is an increase in iron, i must look at the ingredients for both though and compare. I am not sure my wee lad is eating enough to be considered weaning or is that the very reason i should be moving him over. As you all know he is doing baby led weaning so it is hard to gauge how much he is actually taking in. He hasnt reduced any of his bottles though so i am not sure he is eating a huge amount, although in saying that he hasnt increased bottles either.

greenttc wrote:

I know you an get offers and deals on the follow on milk but at the same time the scoop is bigger so you probably get through a tub quicker anyway. The cost is just an aside though, i obviously just want what is the best one for my baby, so hard to know!

My PHN said they don't advise moving on to stage 2 cos of the increased iron level. I did a good think on it though and have moved her on to it.
She turned 6 months last Tuesday and is on 3 meals a day but isn't finishing bottles so I'd rather have her on the formula that's tailored for weaning. I'd be too worried that she's missing out on nutrients if I kept her on stage 1.
I'm still trying to figure out her new routine. She has a 7oz bottle when she wakes, usually between 6 and 7 and goes back to sleep til 9ish. She has porridge or cereal then when she gets up but only has around 4ozs an hour after that. She'll have a meat and veg or fruit puree for lunch and will usually take almost a full bottle and hour or more after that. Yogurt for tea followed by another half bottle and then her bedtime bottle a few hours later. She also takes sips of water with her meals. I think we need to get rid of one bottle and split another but I'm keeping track on an app to see if there's a routine somewhere! Her night sleep is also going an hour longer which is great. She'll go down at 9 and now sleep til 7ish.

smaoifs

greenttc wrote:

I know you an get offers and deals on the follow on milk but at the same time the scoop is bigger so you probably get through a tub quicker anyway. The cost is just an aside though, i obviously just want what is the best one for my baby, so hard to know!

The Aptamil scoop is 4.5g for stage 1 and 4.9 for stage 2 so not too much of a difference scoopwise but I think he difference is the babies are on less bottles.

tangobelle2010

greenttc wrote:

What are you all doing about formula, now that all the babies are weaning are you moving on to the stage two follow on formula or sticking to the stage one? My friend said it to me that i could be moving up, supposedly the difference is an increase in iron, i must look at the ingredients for both though and compare. I am not sure my wee lad is eating enough to be considered weaning or is that the very reason i should be moving him over. As you all know he is doing baby led weaning so it is hard to gauge how much he is actually taking in. He hasnt reduced any of his bottles though so i am not sure he is eating a huge amount, although in saying that he hasnt increased bottles either.

I've stuck to the first milk and did with my other two children too. My phn advised there's absolutely no reason to change and that we should work on getting the nutrients from food and weaning established so that's what I've done. I had both my other children off formula completely by 12-13 months and I'll be aiming for the same here too. My baba loves her bottle though, so much more than her 2 year old sister did, so not sure if I'll succeed in getting it off her when she's 12-13 months!

She loves her grub too. She's a pleasure to feed. We were out yesterday and she was able to go into the highchair in the diner and she got treated to toast and fried egg. That went down a storm with her!

I must try get her started properly on the sippy cup for water. I've introduced it a few times but she couldn't get the idea behind it at all!

smaoifs

tangobelle2010 wrote:

My phn advised there's absolutely no reason to change and that we should work on getting the nutrients from food and weaning established so that's what I've done

Funny how the advice we get differs so much. I was told just to concentrate on getting her used to different tastes and textures cos "food before one is for fun".

catrionanic

smaoifs wrote: »

Funny how the advice we get differs so much. I was told just to concentrate on getting her used to different tastes and textures cos "food before one is for fun".

That's all I've been hearing too. That the most important thing is to get them trying a variety of different things, but not worry about how much of it they are actually consuming. Unless the advice differs for breastfed babies? I didn't think so though.

tangobelle2010

smaoifs wrote:

Funny how the advice we get differs so much. I was told just to concentrate on getting her used to different tastes and textures cos "food before one is for fun".

That's very true! I even noticed midwives in the hospital had differing and opposing methods of doing things!

Everyone has their own opinions and experiences and I think we all just do what's right for ourselves at any point in time.

catrionanic

tangobelle2010 wrote: »

That's very true! I even noticed midwives in the hospital had differing and opposing methods of doing things!

Everyone has their own opinions and experiences and I think we all just do what's right for ourselves at any point in time.

When my little one was just four days old and breastfeeding was super difficult, one of the early transfer home midwives told me that I was wrong to be pointing the nipple towards his top lip as he tries to latch, and instead should be putting my nipple to his bottom lip. This was contrary to everything I'd read, but I went with what she said. Of course it was total bollocks and multiple midwives and LCs said to aim for the top lip in the days and weeks afterwards when I was struggling and asking for help. She really did make me feel like I'd been doing it all wrong, and I spent several days trying to take her advice and latch him in that way. She was also really grumpy and stressed and kept talking about how overworked she was and how she only had a few minutes to spend with us as she has to go to the next patient's house.

The vast majority of health professionals are great, but you only need one bull****ter with dodgy advice to really set you back.

smaoifs

tangobelle2010 wrote:

That's very true! I even noticed midwives in the hospital had differing and opposing methods of doing things!

I remember being told that they don't recommend swaddling. The first night with baby and she wouldn't settle for me so the care assistant swaddled her and she settled straight away!

greenttc

You really do get different info everywhere thats why i think it is good to do a bit of research and also see what others are doing who are in similar situations (like you guys!) just to make sure you havent missed out on any options so that you can make a fully informed decision.

I would hope to have the wee man off bottles by 12 months too and start on cows milk instead of formula after 12 months.I am guessing that it will be a gradual process, tango, did you start giving a "bottle" In a beaker for some of the bottles or did you just find your children just naturally weaned themselves off. I am guessing that the morning and pre bed ones are the hardest to go and hardest to give up. I know we are aaaaages away from that yet though. I have started trying to show him how to ues a cup/beaker with water which is realy confusing him, i have tried a few types, the tommy tippee beakers with the flippy spout and one with a spout he needs to suck to get water out of, he just bites both although the flippy spout water drips out of so he gets some anyway. Have also tried the 360 cup, he hasnt a clue what is goign on with that. Have also tried a shot glass (ha ha I know!) supervised of course and he kind of got something out of that i think. Hard to know which one he will take to or understand first i will keep trying with the flippy one for now i think.

I think i will wait a few more weeks with the first formula and then if he is eating better or his bottle volume changes i will change to follow on. He is still on 5x7oz sometimes he will drink just half of one of them but mostly they are all drank. Must look into the ingrediants of each to see how different they are. My knly concern with an increase in Iron is constipation, hope that doesnt happen.

fits

One of my babies had fierce constipation for a number of days there. I'm baffled! He is still breastfed. My suspicions rest on banana and bread. He was screaming while straining the poor fella. Prune juice resolved it I think

Yeah no matter what you do as a parent there's some expert telling you it's wrong.

tangobelle2010

greenttc wrote:

I would hope to have the wee man off bottles by 12 months too and start on cows milk instead of formula after 12 months.I am guessing that it will be a gradual process, tango, did you start giving a "bottle" In a beaker for some of the bottles or did you just find your children just naturally weaned themselves off. I am guessing that the morning and pre bed ones are the hardest to go and hardest to give up. I know we are aaaaages away from that yet though. .

Ages away surely but the last six months have been unbelievably fast! Mine had started naturally reducing the bottles with weaning and drinking from beakers and then I just took all the bottles away completely cold turkey and both of them were fine and didn't appear to miss it. But there's no guarantee that my little miss will comply when the time comes. All so different.

deh983

How's everybody getting on? We're still finding our feet with weaning. One 'meal' a day and a few finger foods.
All she wants to do is stand now. Got a jumparoo on adverts for cheap & she loves it. Still only rolling from back to belly & then gets mad

smaoifs

deh983 wrote:

How's everybody getting on? We're still finding our feet with weaning. One 'meal' a day and a few finger foods. All she wants to do is stand now. Got a jumparoo on adverts for cheap & she loves it. Still only rolling from back to belly & then gets mad

I think we've got our food/bottle routine figured out. She's now sleeping an hour longer at night.
Wants to be standing the whole time too, will push herself to stand when she's on my lap.
Had 6 month jabs yesterday, no reaction at all. She slept on the walk home but was due her nap anyway. Nurse gave a great tip about walking her around outside the room after the jabs. She's at an age where if she stays in the nurses room she thinks she's getting another.

tangobelle2010

deh983 wrote:

How's everybody getting on? We're still finding our feet with weaning. One 'meal' a day and a few finger foods. All she wants to do is stand now. Got a jumparoo on adverts for cheap & she loves it. Still only rolling from back to belly & then gets mad

Jumparoo is the business! She hasn't got the hang of the jumping part but she'll happily stay in it 15-20 mins at a time and try and eat the toys hanging from it! Then her big sister will come in a decide its "my jumparoo" and war starts! Baby is sliding all over the floor now...not quite crawling but almost there...and going for her sisters toys which is not going down well at all! Its very funny to watch but the peaceful months of a new baby are well and truly gone!

Her daytime naps have gone downhill this past week as we've moved her from the carrycot of the travel system to the big cot. We're lucky if she gets an hour at a time now but she's nailing nighttime sleeping so can't complain. She didn't wake until 8.15 this morning from 8.30 last night. Then she just lay there chatting to herself until 8.30. I do realise how lucky I am.

deh983

Can I ask what your evening/bed times are like? What time is last nap & bed time then? Our one has become extremely hard to get down at night & I think she's over tired. Her last nap is generally 5:15-6ish depending on what we're doing. I try to then put her down around 8 as she's showing all the signs but could be 8 before she actually falls asleep

tangobelle2010

deh983 wrote:

Can I ask what your evening/bed times are like? What time is last nap & bed time then? Our one has become extremely hard to get down at night & I think she's over tired. Her last nap is generally 5:15-6ish depending on what we're doing. I try to then put her down around 8 as she's showing all the signs but could be 8 before she actually falls asleep

Like you, our last nap depends on how our day went or what we've been doing. But generally, the last nap we hope will end between 5.30-6.00. Then she'll play a while on floor or in jumparoo and we try for supper around 7.00, bath at around 7.30 and hopefully bed at 8.00 after a bottle. This can vary though up to 9.00 if her naps were long or if we were away during day etc. Getting her to sleep at night, for us, is way easier than getting her down for her daytime naps though. Dodo, comforter, kiss and down she goes.

smaoifs

tangobelle2010 wrote:

Like you, our last nap depends on how our day went or what we've been doing. But generally, the last nap we hope will end between 5.30-6.00. Then she'll play a while on floor or in jumparoo and we try for supper around 7.00, bath at around 7.30 and hopefully bed at 8.00 after a bottle. This can vary though up to 9.00 if her naps were long or if we were away during day etc. Getting her to sleep at night, for us, is way easier than getting her down for her daytime naps though. Dodo, comforter, kiss and down she goes.

Same here. Usual last nap ends before 6 but if we're in the car she'll go longer. Supper before 7 followed by a bit of wind down playtime. We do our baths now in the morning cos she's really started enjoying it and splashing away so it's more a playtime for her now. She has started getting tired enough for her bedtime bottle now around 8.30 so is in bed for 9. Bedtime definitely easier than naps. If we're out with the pram she'll just nod off but if we're in the car or at home she'll fight her sleep.

deh983

smaoifs wrote: »

Same here. Usual last nap ends before 6 but if we're in the car she'll go longer. Supper before 7 followed by a bit of wind down playtime. We do our baths now in the morning cos she's really started enjoying it and splashing away so it's more a playtime for her now. She has started getting tired enough for her bedtime bottle now around 8.30 so is in bed for 9. Bedtime definitely easier than naps. If we're out with the pram she'll just nod off but if we're in the car or at home she'll fight her sleep.

God we are complete opposite. Naps she is down straight away no issues. She's obviously wrecked but just fights it and then conks!!

catrionanic

I've had real problems getting him down at night for the last week or so. He's usually ready for bed around two hours after his last nap, but this week he fights it and fights it even though he's exhausted. Naps are sometimes a hard-fought battle too. The morning nap is easy, the early afternoon nap takes a bit of work, the late afternoon nap is a battle, and bedtime is full-scale war!

deh983

Thanks for all the replies seems like most of us are in the same boat at night
Awake having the chats at 5:15 this morning. Is there a regression at this age too??

Thank god this is my last

greenttc

The Jumperoo is definitely the best thing we've ever bought from him he could bounce in it for up to an hour almost, as long as the music is playing he loves it! I am conscious though that he needs time playing on the ground as well just so that you can master the rolling over business. I also don't want him to get bored of the Jumperoo too quick so I try and limit his time in it, it cost enough so I want him to get a long time out of it!!

In terms of sleeping I'm pretty happy with how he is although I think he does one less nap than the rest of you seem to do. he wakes at 6.30 has a bottle and then breakfast at 8 then nap from 9 to 10 another bottle at 10 and then the next nap is from 1 until 3 or 3:30 if I'm really lucky, then bottle at 4 dinner at 5 and play until around 6:30 and he is asleep in bed at 7 he gets a bottle just before bed. He sleeps through the night for the most part. His naps he sleeps through although he wakes every hour so that long one in the afternoon he wakes but goes back to sleep again. I think I am very very lucky!

I think I will be introducing lunch for him soon, like some else said though the whole day will literally be a cycle of feeding, clenaning.up after meals, bottles, changing and naps, it will be a struggle to get out if the house, it seems like there wont be time at all now when I introduce lunch, that was always my bit of time to get out to the shops or for a walk!! Suppose I will get more efficient and it will get better.

It is mad how much he has developed in the last week, he cries and gives out now when he wants something, he gets annoyed when he has finished all the strawberries and there are none left, he cries when we lift him out of his jumperoo to go somewhere and he screams his head off (while still smiling) when you go into the freezer section in a shop! He watches everything intently and will follow things like a fly flying around the room (with his eyes of course!) Sooo into everything, I am going to have my hands full with him I think!!

I would be back to work this week if I hadnt taken the extra time off, I cant imagine leaving him!!! Although I must admit I do crave a bit of adult conversation during the day and want to use my brain a bit!

ally_pally

catrionanic wrote: »

The morning nap is easy, the early afternoon nap takes a bit of work, the late afternoon nap is a battle, and bedtime is full-scale war!

We're the same. At night, a good night and she'll be asleep within half an hour but it's often up to an hour and sometimes more. Morning nap though? Put her in her cot and she's asleep in a couple of minutes.

Our schedule varies day to day also. Some days she has two naps, some days it's three. I'm also finding in the last week or so that she seems able to stay awake a bit longer between sleeps now. Two hours is no longer our absolute cut off point, she can sometimes happily go 2 and a quarter or half now.

I'm incredibly lucky that she's a late riser. She wakes around 9. Morning nap around 11.15 to 12. Then mid day nap could be 2.30 to 4.30 or 5. That's how her days have been recently in which case there won't be a third nap and I'll start settling her down to bed at 7.30. If she wakes a bit earlier or her naps are shorter we'll try and get a short evening nap, no later than 6.

That schedule seems to be working well for us at the moment. Food is going well too. She's properly established on 3 meals a day now - fruit maybe with some baby rice or porridge in the morning, veg for lunch and something like beef or chicken stew purée for dinner. She loves most foods (although I sense a lifelong hatred of broccoli growing!) so we're lucky with that too.

smaoifs

greenttc wrote:

I think I will be introducing lunch for him soon, like some else said though the whole day will literally be a cycle of feeding, clenaning.up after meals, bottles, changing and naps, it will be a struggle to get out if the house, it seems like there wont be time at all now when I introduce lunch, that was always my bit of time to get out to the shops or for a walk!! Suppose I will get more efficient and it will get better.

greenttc wrote:

I would be back to work this week if I hadnt taken the extra time off, I cant imagine leaving him!!! Although I must admit I do crave a bit of adult conversation during the day and want to use my brain a bit!

I find for days when we were going to be out and about it's easier to have a jar or squeeze pouch that doesn't require heating. I got a bowl and spoon set in Boots that clips together so it's very handy for on the go. Some of the squeeze pouches are very sloppy so I break up a bit of Liga to give it texture.

I should have been back the 2nd of August but between the extended leave and my AL and bank holidays, I'm not back til January 8th, the day she turns 11 months. Trying not to think about it. It's half the thoughts of leaving her and half just dreading going back to a job and people I'm not missing. I do miss the adult conversation though!

deh983

Wow ye are all getting nice long naps in the afternoon. We get 2 1.5 hour naps & a short one in the evening. This is a big improvement for us though so I'm not complaining. She can also go over the 2 hour mark now too. Usually 2 hrs 15 these days. She'll be 6 months on Monday so I really need to get a routine going now with solids.

greenttc

I am back in the first week in january too smaoifs, its going to come round fast! Like you though i totally dont miss actual work or any of the people there!!

We are doing baby led weaning so i havent given any pouches yet but they do seem handy for being out, not sure if he would eat them though, he is ridiculously independent so wants to hold food and put it in his mouth himself, he loves yoghurt and i hand him spoons of it which he feeds himself but it is so so so messy so not sure i could hack that when we are out, he will just have to eat rice cakes and hummus or bits of what i am having i think!