radnrach

Thanks Saffron, I've PM'd you

Saffron, which of the two books you recommend do you think would be the best investment?

Wow, thanks so much for your suggestions! His crib is in the room next to ours. I think I'll try some of your suggestions and make his cot more cosy, try putting him down later, etc. His room is already pretty warm because he likes to kick all his covers off as soon as he gets in there! He sounds almost exactly like your little one. I'm scared he'll never grow out of this phase! I'll also try reading the books you suggested. Thanks!

Does anybody have advice on getting your baby to sleep in their crib? My 8 month old has ended up sleeping in our bed most of the time due to lots of night feeds/teething/and now what I assume is separation anxiety. None of us are really getting much sleep, so I was wondering if anybody had hints or tips about how to make the transfer over to crib (full time?) He starts the night in this crib after a nighttime routine, tends to wake up at least every hour and needs me to go back to sleep. At usually about 2 or 3 am he wakes up and stays awake for as long as it takes for me to bring him into bed with us. I get him to sleep, and then as soon as I put him down on his mattress he wakes up with a start and starts the whole process again. As soon as I bring him into our bed, he falls fast asleep until 8 am. Any tips?

Due to on-going sleep problems with my almost 7-month-old, I've decided it's time to tackle some of the issues with some sleep training. I haven't wanted to try any so far, but am now just getting no sleep whatsoever, and it's really affecting our days. I'm definitely not keen on the cry it out methods, but have heard good things about the pick up/put down one. Is this the Baby Whisperer? If so, I'm wondering if anybody has had good results with it!? Any thoughts appreciated!

I've had good advice on here before, so thought I would post this problem and see if I get any answers! I'm all out of ideas at the moment... My 6 month old has never been an amazing sleeper - he still generally wakes around 2 times a night (one for food, the other usually just shushed to sleep again). However, the past week has gotten a bit crazy. I'll give the example of last night: He went to bed at 8 after play, bath, feed.. went down as per usual. He then woke up at 11pm and I fed him. He then woke up at 12am and would not go back to sleep. He ended up staying awake for 2 hours. He didn't seem tired, he didn't want food, but he just made constant noises. I tried co-sleeping, rocking, etc... all the things that usually get him to sleep straight away. He then finally went to sleep at about 2am to wake up again at 5am and do the same thing all over again until 7am when I finally got him to sleep by co-sleeping and feeding him till he slept. He then slept until 9. I can tell the poor guy is utterly exhausted, but he won't even take a nap - I have to take him out in the pram or in the car to get him to sleep. Usually this isn't the case. I'm so bemused and perplexed, and tired!! We tried leaving him in there on his own to make noises and play in his crib, but eventually he always starts to cry. So what's going on?!? why won't he sleep?!? Does anyone have any ideas? He doesn't have any teeth yet, so is this just a side-effect of teething? Any ponderings or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

phone line and broadband both back up again in Melbourne Grove... finally!

My baby is now 6 months old and has made the grand move to his big-boy cot. He's all tucked in there nice and tight, fast asleep.. and then I go and read the internet. I was given a cute cot bumper by my aunt, and thought nothing of it. But apparently they are not recommended for babies under 1 year old? Due to risk of suffocating? And overheating? It's all I can do to run in there screaming and rip the bumper off the cot... Does anybody have any thoughts on this? Do you use one? Do you not? I'm unsure whether this is just another one of those things that I shouldn't really listen to. And as always, I'm an over-worried first time mother.

Me too - Phone line dead and no broadband. I'm on Melbourne Grove.

GinaG3: I recently had a smear at Melbourne Grove Medical Practice by a really lovely nurse practitioner.

Thank you all so, so much for your input. Just reading what other people have experienced has helped tremendously. I wish I could answer each one of your posts specifically, but I don't have the time right now! (what, with a 6 month old and all...) For those of you in the same position, I hope you find the right balance, too. It's going to be a tough few decision-making months ahead (and 18 or so years to follow...). Thanks again to everybody!

Mine is now 6 months old, and has been waking up around the same amount of times since he was 3-4 months. he usually goes to bed @ 7:30, wakes up 4-5 hours later, then 3 hours later, then 3 hours later again... So always at least 2-3 times a night. Some nights he fancies staying awake for a while, too. That's fun. He always eats a full feed (milk from both breasts)... So, I can tell he's hungry and not just feeding for comfort. One night he actually slept for 7 hours straight and I thought he must be dead... but of course he wasn't. And then the next night he went back to his usual routine. I stressed about it for a while, but I think it just made me more tired to stress about it. I think all babies are just totally different. What you can expect from one baby will be completely different from another.

Hi all, I was hoping to acquire some wisdom from any people on here who have been in my shoes. My first baby is 6 months old, and I'm having real troubles dealing with the idea of going back to work. I've decided I will most likely go back at 9 months, but am even thinking of holding out until he's 1 years old (the only reason I wouldn't would be due to lack of funds). Before he was born I was very gung-ho about having the baby and going back to work no problem. Little did I realise how strong my emotions would be at this stage. At the moment, I can't bear to even think about leaving for a day. I thought the feeling would lessen, but 6 months on and it's still pretty strong. My job is 9:30-5:30 in central London, so I would basically be gone from 8:30 till 6:30. This means all of the time he is awake, I would be gone. Just the idea of this is enough to bring me to tears. My husband is self-employed, therefore the money coming in from him can be unstable at times. My job is the main money-earner, so it's not really an option for me to stay at home. My questions are, for people who have been in this situation before: 1. If you have gone back to work, how did you feel? Did you actually enjoy going back to being 'you', rather than mainly a mother? 2. If you went back to work, did you work some days from home? Did you work flexitime, say - going in at 8, leaving at 4? And did this help? 3. If you decided to work some days from home, could you get anything done? How did you balance looking after a young child and working at the same time? Is it actually impossible? 4. I have entertained the idea of changing jobs to something with different hours. It would take a couple of years, but since we're planning on having more children, perhaps in the longrun this would be better. It would involve a huge life-change, but maybe even training as a teacher and working as a nursery teacher. Has anybody else done this, or have any thoughts on this? I am also slightly devastated about the idea of changing my life so completely. And I wonder if I would be able to go back to what I'm doing now once my kids are in school full time. 5. Should I just get over it, go back to work and get on with life? I know that these are difficult questions, and everyone is different. But your experience would be so immensely helpful to hear about. I'm going through a kind of scared, helpless, don't-know-what-to-do phase, and thought it would really be good to hear what other people have been through. Thank you!

My experience is the same as sanity girl's. As soon as I gave birth, my weight went down to below what it was before I got pregnant, which was a total mystery to me. And breastfeeding just kept it off. I now eat so much, and worry occasionally that I'm gaining weight.. but as soon as I cut back, I start feeling dizzy, etc. So it's obvious my body needs the extra food to help with my milk supply! It may be due to the fact my baby eats like crazy, though. I'm not sure. But I would say breastfeeding definitely helps with weight loss, I've heard it kills something like 500 calories a day, but can't be sure of the figures! And I'm sure it does more than that for me! Edited to add: I haven't completely weaned yet, so I could really just gain a whole load after he's stopped bfing. I think it's true that your appetite grows substantially, and I hope I don't get too used to it!

I've had kind of a weird couple of weeks, and I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the fact I've started weaning my son. He's only been eating baby rice & veggie puree in small proportions, as more of a taster - a little veggie/fruit at lunch and then baby rice & veg at dinner. He's still breastfeeding a lot, I'd say every 3 hours. However, he used to breastfeed every 1-2 hours beforehand. It may be coincidence, but at the same time, I've been feeling very emotional. Kind of like I'm 14 years old and having PMS for the first time - so, so, so not fun! I just realised today that it may have something to do with breastfeeding hormones?! And the fact that my body is changing due to less bfing? But I'm wondering if this is a completely ridiculous notion. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? I'm very easily effected by hormones, which makes fun times for both my husband and myself! Ha.

I would also say 'what to expect the first year'. It's so easy to refer to, easy to read, etc.

My babe is 5 months old and still wakes up at least 3 times a night for breastmilk. Every three hours, almost on the dot. It's actually a huge improvement because it used to be more like 1 - 1 1/2 hours. He's just a big boy. and he loves his food. I thought for a while that maybe I was doing something wrong, adn that he wasn't actually hungry and I was just feeding him to get him back to sleep.. But then realised if I left him for 10-15 mins he would go crazy with his hand signals for food.. like, crazy. And he always eats a full feed (both breasts) before falling back to sleep. It annoys me so much when people assume what their children did was 'the right way'. ugh!

My baby is now 5 months, and when he was 4 months we were in the same position as you. He was staying up with us (till around 11pm, sometimes later), cluster feeding, etc. I loved having him with us in the evenings. However, he started getting quite cranky which made me think he just wasn't getting enough sleep. At this time, we didn't have a nighttime routine or anything, he just fell asleep when feeding late at night. When he was 4 months, we decided to start the bedtime routine, put him down earlier and see how it went. Bedtime routine was: quiet playtime in the nursery on a mat with few toys, bath (with night time baby bath), change into jammies, read a book (he loves this bit already!) and then lullabies, feed = moses basket. We started by putting him down at 9, and it's gotten progressively earlier to now he is almost always asleep by 7:30pm. I didn't actually want him to go to bed that early, but it seems to be the time he naturally wants to go to bed. He now wakes up at 7:30 - 8am whereas he used to wake up 9-9:30am, but he's so much happier generally. So - I guess all babies are different, and you can find what works for you and babe, but we found that the bed time routine and earlier bedtime really have helped. Perhaps you need to start later (9) and then work your way earlier, as they're so used to going to bed late their body isn't ready to suddenly go down at 7? Edited to add a couple of things: I have read that signs of a baby being over-tired can be misconstrued. Once they've gone through the tired stage, they can become overexcited, hyper almost! So sometimes when they're being excitable late at night, it's because they're very very tired. Another thing: When we take him out in the evenings now, he still wants to crash at 7:30pm, so if we're out later he gets pretty upset at around that time. But once he's fallen asleep while we're out, he's out for the night, and we can take him in the pram almost anywhere. hope this makes sense and helps somewhat!

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments! I had put it together right, I checked the manual many times. It would appear that some people work better with manual, some with electric. And manual certainly is not for me! Fuschia has very kindly dropped off an electric pump for me, so I'll see how that goes in the morning. Once again, thanks for all of your help!

This is quite an urgent query, as I will be going in to work for a day next Tuesday and leaving the hubby with babe, and he's exclusively breastfed. My very expensive electric breast pump has recently broken, and as I couldn't afford to replace it, I now have an Avent manual pump. I used to be able to pump up to 8 ounces in one go with my electric one, and so far I have only been able to pump up to 2 ounces with this one. On bad days (like today) I laboured for half an hour only to get half an ounce! This was in the morning at the peak milk producing time. What am I doing wrong?! Does anyone have advice? I know there's milk in there but it just won't come out!

Me, too, Vik. I think they're showing it next week. i *think*!

Yep, just called and you're right, it's only Thursdays. Looks like I'll be watching The King's Speech in Brixton instead! Thanks for the info, bobby's bear - sounds lovely, really. can't wait!

I think they have a few now - the website says they have showings Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday at 11:30am for babies. I might be wrong, maybe I'll give them a call.

I'm planning on venturing out to the baby screening tomorrow morning for my first ever baby cinema experience and have a couple obvious questions for people who have been before... Do you take your pram in with you? Do you just breastfeed there and then when needed? What if baby cries, do you whisk them straight out? Does your baby get bored just sitting around in a dark room? any thoughts would be greatly appreciated :)

Sadie Frost and Kate Thornton on New Cross Road