Where we're at with the sleeping thing

Friday night S was in charge so I could get some extra sleep - yeah right.

It seems my husband isn't very patient with the whole rock until he falls asleep, put him down, he screams, rinse repeat routine. So he had the bright idea of switching on the light and reading to baby T. So when I took over having lain in the other room listening to this it took ages to get him to sleep and the night involved a lot more waking up.

Saturday night we were out at a party so baby T didn't get to bed until 9, I decided to relax a bit and just aim for more than 4 hours before he was fed and he woke up at 2am and 6. Sunday night was a late one again since we went to a friend's for dinner, he went to bed at 10.30 and woke up to be fed at 3am and 6 and then sleeping to 8.

Monday we were back to normal he was in bed at 8, woke up at 11 (yeah!). I fed him then as I figure if I can get a long sleep period I'd rather it was from 11 until maybe the morning (I can hope right) than from 8 until the middle of the night. He woke again at 4 for a feed and then slept until 8am. So yay! A 5 hour and a 4 hour stretch.

Unfortunately his naps were a bit strange today so I'm not sure if he is starting a new pattern or if it was just an off day.

So the next steps -

• I think I'll continue the 11pm feed or whenever he wakes up first as long as it's at least 3 hours after he goes down, hopefully this will go on it's own eventually.
• it would be nice to extend the sleep and lose the 4am feed but I'm not sure I have the energy to force this at the moment.
• Since baby-T is in his own room now (we moved him a couple of weeks ago) maybe I'll be brave enough to move into our room with S instead of sleeping in with him.
  
• solids - still not going brilliantly but there has been some progress.
  

Because I'm too tired to write a proper post

(or the 3rd night didn't go so well.)

Here's what typealyser says my blog tells us about my personality:

ESTP-The doers

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Night 2 - more of the same

So baby T was pretty tired last night and fell asleep at ten to 8. He woke at 9.30 and 11.45 and I rocked him back to sleep both times and then woke again at 3.30 when I fed him. He woke for the day at about 6.45 and I fed him a little porridge and then breastfed him at 7.30.

So the going without food for longer stretches overnight seems to be going fine, if only he can start sleeping longer in between.

He's taken longer than usual daytime naps both yesterday and today so I guess he's tired too but hopefully this and eating more solids will slowly sort itself out.

First night - not too bad

So baby T went to sleep at about 8.30 after some songs and a feed. He woke at 9.30 but dropped back off quite quickly.

He then woke again at 11.30 and I rocked him to sleep several times but he woke up as soon as I tried to put him down in his cot. Eventually I sat in bed rocking him and laid him gently down next to me when he seemed fast asleep (about 1am?) and he slept until 3.30.

At this point I fed him so he had managed 7 hours without food and not too much fuss - I guess it's the comfort he needs really. He slept again until 6.30, ate and then slept until 8.15.

I'm pretty tired this morning but optimistic.

On eating and sleeping

So we've reached a point where baby T is eating every 2 or 3 hours during the night and so he isn't particularly hungry during the day.

This is leading to 2 problems:

1. I'm not getting enough sleep
2. Baby T is not showing much interest in eating solids

So after chatting to one of my mother's group friends who is having similar problems I've decided I need to try the same thing she is about to try. That is refuse to give him the breast more than once overnight and hope he switches over to eating more during the day after 2 or 3 days like her health visitor advises.

Wish me luck.

Has anyone else done this? Any other advice/ideas?

Oops another week gone.

They seem to be flying by and the return to work date is getting ever closer...

Baby T has (finally) learnt to roll over from back to front and has been doing it repeatedly which is very cute. He also seems to prefer eating whatever is on our plates to baby mush so we have been allowing him to try soft stuff that we're eating and trying to relax a bit about how much he's getting.

I've also ended up trying to post a picture a day on a photoblog along with a bunch of people on a forum I visit regularly. Not sure how long I'll keep it up but it's fun so far.

Here's an example:

(most of them are not that nice).

If you're interested in seeing the blog email me and I'll send the link.

When the cat's away

the mice will dance on the table*

Or in this case my husband, who is in London for work until Sunday.

• I can let baby T sleep with me in our bed which avoids the transfer into his bed after he feeds during the night which sometimes wakes him up again. Also it's lovely to watch him wake up in the morning and then turn and smile at me.
• I can watch what I want on the television and spend wayy too much time reading blogs and doing other stuff on the internet.

However

• Being entirely responsible for baby T 24 hours a day is hard work - I don't know how single mums manage
• related to the above cooking, eating and washing are difficult to fit in.

On that note better go and see if I can persuade baby T to eat some carrots and sweet potato.

*direct translation of the Danish version of this saying - Når katten er væk, muserne danser på bordet.

I do miss S but it's nice to have some time to myself too.

Oh and thanks for the comments the other day - it's nice to be told not to worry.

Christmas

Since S will be on paternity leave for 3 months starting in December (fully paid - yay Denmark!) and I start back at work on January 12th - a deliberately planned overlap - we have (perhaps foolishly) decided to take 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year to spend in the UK.

But this week I started to look at the logistics...
First problem is that the airline we had planned to use has just gone bankrupt as a result of the credit crisis (it was owned by an Icelandic investment company).

Our trip is likely to last about three weeks and involves at least three different stops, so we're going to need transport.
Stop 1: My in-law's in a small place in North-Eastern England
Stop2: My Sister's for Christmas in a small town nearish to Manchester (my parents will be there too)
stop 3: The highlands of Scotland for a week including New Year with my sister's family and a bunch of her friends.

Plan A was to fly in to a small airport about halfway between my in-laws and my sisters and fly out of Edinburgh and hire a car. However - the flights no longer exist and car hire will cost a lot for 3 weeks.

So I'm beginning to consider what plan B might be and I think this is it:
Fly with a different cheap airline to Stansted (London) which is fairly close to my parents so they can collect us. Stay overnight, then borrow my mum's car and head up to the in-laws (about 3½ hours), this is possible because my parents are retired and have 2 cars (although I still have to check if this is possible). Then to my sisters for Christmas (about 2½ hours) and finally up to Scotland (about 5 hours).

This is a lot of driving with a baby who is not used to cars but the worst will be the return trip when we'll need to get all the way back down to my parents which is estimated at 8½ hours with no stops. The advantage of us having no time pressures because of paternity/maternity leave is that we can stop on the way and overnight at my parents meaning there are no long drives with getting to the airport time stress.

So does this sound do-able with an 8 month old? Most travelling will have several days in between at least.

The next problem is of course packing, we'll need to have space to bring back gifts plus plenty of clothes. I think we can minimise toys (since I guess there'll be some new ones after Christmas) and use disposable nappies since even with access to washing machines we need to wash every 2 days and they take up a lot of space. At least we can buy biodegradable nappies so it's not totally bad.

Crisis of confidence

For the last week I've been really tearful, I'm not sure if it's something to do with hormones or just tiredness. I'm worrying a lot about if I'm doing stuff right. Baby T still doesn't really like being on his stomach and so I don't really force him (maybe I should?). He's not rolling over and he's not very keen on food - if I manage to get 2 spoonfuls in we're doing well. Also he needs to be fed/rocked or rolled in his pram to go to sleep.

Maybe I should stop reading/worrying about what other babies can/should be doing by now?

Tiredness is almost certainly a factor in the tearfulness as baby T is up multiple times at night and daytime naps haven't been going so well.

This wasn't helped by S "helpfully" suggesting that since I'm at home all day I should be doing more to keep the house clean and tidy. I'm not doing nothing but I'm not living in the cleanest house either.

What 6 months old looks like

For those of you who haven't seen the pics on facebook.


Pictures by S (who's better at it than me).